Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live 20170420

Ill talk to the attorney who represented one of the women who first brought a Sexual Harassment lawsuit against bill oreilly. The latest now that oreilly is no longer a factor. Good morning, everyone. Im ali velshi in washington. We begin with a new escalation of tensions on multiple Foreign Policy fronts. Among them, north korea warning this morning of a, quote, super, mighty, preemptive strike, as the Trump Administration considers its next move. Russia talking aggressively or taking aggressive, new action. Two Nuclear Capable bombers, like the one you see here, twice this week flying close to the alaskan coast. One causing u. S. Fighter jets to scramble to intercept them. Now the Trump Administration is opening a new front with iran. Secretary of state tillerson accusing tehran of sponsoring terrorism throughout the middle east. He is also condemning the landmark nuclear deal created by the Obama Administration and warning that iran could be the next north korea. Unchecked iran has the potential to take the path of north korea and take the world along with it. This represents the same failed approach of the past that brings us to the threat of north korea. Irans actions threaten the United States, the region and the world. Although secretary of state tillerson acknowledged iran is complying with the deal, President Trump is now considering whether to rip it up. We have all of this covered with our nbc correspondents here and overseas. Lets begin in iran. Nbc News Tehran Bureau chief has reaction from irans leaders. Good morning, ali. Well, when america talks tough to iran, it doesnt usually go down very well here. Secretary tillerson certainly had strong words. Hard line elements in the country have yet to comment. As this Election Campaign heats up, im sure it is going to be a hot topic. Today, foreign minister zarif, who spearheaded the nuclear talks, weighed in. Tweeting earlier, wornout u. S. Accusations cant mask its admission of irans compliance with jcpoa. Obligating u. S. To change course and fulfill its own commitments. Ali, it is important to note that zarif and his posboss, the president , are in this deal. They doutouted the deal as tyin political fortunes to the success of the deal. If its in trouble, hes in trouble. Also, secretary tillersons tough words are not going to bode well for mr. Ro ha rouhani. He faces the possibility of becoming the islamic republics first oneterm president. If he is replaced by a staunch hard liner, most of what weve seen with iran and the west since the nuclear deal will probably be rolled back, making it almost impossible to negotiate with iran in the future. The big question that remains is if america tries to renegotiate the deal or imposes new sanctions, what will iran do . The supreme leader, who holds all the cards here, has warned of dire consequences if america violates the terms of the deal hech and he may think it is more prudent to enrich uranium again. How does the u. S. Square this with the pk plus one, all involved in the talks. They want the deal to stay in place. Does it leave america out in the cold if they want to pull out, or can President Trump convince them it is best to drop any support for iran . It is a complicated situation, and it remains shrouded in uncertainty. Back to you. Ali, thank you. As we talk more about the iranian elections and the iran deal, remember, you will hear the ak acronym jcpoa. Thats the official name for the nuclear deal. Kelly cobiella joins us from seoul, south korea. Good to see you. State media there in north korea is warning of a, quote, super, mighty, preemptive strike. What do you know about this . Yeah, north korea today threatening to reduce the United States to ashes, more belligerent talk from the North Koreans today. Likely a reaction to that statement by secretary of state Rex Tillerson yesterday, that the u. S. Was looking for new ways of pressuring north korea on its nuclear program. Also, potentially a reaction, frankly, to the military exercises taking place here. The u. S. Putting f15s up in the sky with south korea today. These are longplanned military exercises. They happen every year. And every year, north korea views them as a provocation and threatens war against the United States and its regional allies. So no big difference there, aside from the very heated talk, likely as i said, a reaction to mr. Tillersons comments. Another interesting message coming out of north korea today, as well. This concerns that Nuclear Test Site in the countrys northeast. The same Nuclear Test Site that analysts said was primed and ready for a sixth nuclear test just last week. Well, the new satellite images are in. Theyve been analyzed. They were taken on sunday. And they show three, ongoing volleyball games at three different places on this nuclear site. So what do they mean . Analysts say they could mean that the site is, as they said before, primed and ready. The crews are on sort of r r r,n standby, waiting for a signal from pyongyang, or it could be another deception coming from north korea. It is guesswork, they say, at this point, ali. What we do know is that north korea knows we are watching and listening. Ali . Kelly, thanks so much for that reporting. Kelly cobiella in south korea. Iran and korea, stories we are following closely. Lets go to Chris Jansing here at the white house. Lets start with north korea. The Trump Administration, chris, is now considering putting north korea back on the list of state sponsors of terror after having been removed from that list by the Bush Administration. Whats the significance of this . Well, i think youre going to look and see exactly how much action this administration decides to put behind its words. Secretary tillerson hinted in his press conference yesterday that putting it back on the list could happen. As you mentioned, the Bush Administration took it off in 2008. After the country agreed to, first of all, dismantle one of their plutonium plants, but also allow inspections that would verify where it was with his nuclear program. But the secretary of state can add a country to this list because they believe that they have been, in a very provable manner, sponsored terrorism. There are three countries on the list right now. Iran, sudan and syria. Why would it matter . It would matter because automatically, what comes along with being put on the list is a series of sanctions. Ali . Chris, lets switch to iran now. What is the timeline on how america moves forward with this joint, comp herehensive plan of action, the socalled iran deal, that donald trump campaigned to rip up. I dont know if he said day one. All the candidates were talking about ripping it up very fast. What is the time line on deciding the course of action . Theyve taken step one. They say theyre going to do the review. It is overall looking at the iran policy. The second part of it is very specifically looking at this deal. Looking at the Iran Nuclear Deal. And we dont know how long, exactly, that is going to take. Obviously, it is very complicated. This was the p5 plus 1. There are other countries involved, including key allies in europe. You know, secretary tillerson didnt give any indication of exactly what President Trump, when he was going to decide about this. What we do know is that theres going to be a lot of pushback about this because if, indeed, there was some decision, for example, to impose sanctions, which is not tied to terrorism, we know, and we just reported from the secretary of state on tuesday, that theyre complying with this. So the question is really, what would the pushback be . What would their justification be, and how would our allies react . A lot of critics say, should they decide that they want to rip it up, so to speak, and this doesnt do it. We need to say very clearly that what the secretary of state said does not rip it up. But should they decide to do that, that would mean that the United States was backing away from a deal they made, which is something that would make a lot of countries very nervous. You bring up an important distinction. That one can impose other sanctions, specifically on iran, without necessarily ripping up the iran deal. Well have to keep that in mind as we go forward on this. Thanks a million on that. Chris jansing at the white house. Lets bring in the republican scongressman from florida. The president is dealing with a host of major, major Foreign Policy issues right now. Russia, north korea, involving china, syria and now iran. Lets start with north korea. Critics say the president s rhetoric, including tweets like the one he sent the other day, when he said north korea is looking for trouble, is escalating tensions with north korea to a dangerous level. Ive heard some of your republican colleagues saying it is a good thing were finally talking tough with north korea. Where do you stand on this . Well, i think thank you for having me on, first. I think we need to be very clear yet very firm in how we respond to the madman. In 1949 when we define ened th m perimeter to exclude north korea, and china was upset they attacked south korea afterwards, we have to remember what would happen if this guy pursues territorial aggression. Even the most basic could affect a major ally of ours, japan, or south korea, which has 28,500 u. S. Troops. That has been the case for a very long time. Weve struggled with this question you pose for a very long time. In your opinion, whats the best avenue . Is it china . Is it donald trump chumming up with china, as we saw happen a couple weeks ago at maralago . I definitely they given the geographical relationship between china and korea, that china is in the best position to help us control the madman. It worked well during the Bush Administration, as well, as you were talking about in the preceding segment. Lets talk about iran now. A little surprising to me, given how much is on the Foreign Policy menu at the moment, that the white house has opened up a new front with iran. We were just talking, you probably heard my conversation with Chris Jansing. When that deal was made, everybody understood that it doesnt address the fact that iran has extra territorial ambitions, does sponsor the houthis, hezbollah and others, but this was designed to control Irans Nuclear ambitions. Whats your thought on where we stand with the deal, given that we have evidence that iran is respecting at least the nuclear part of things . They may be respecting the nuclear part of things but as long as theyre supporting terror and committing huge human rights abuses and trying to become the hedgemon of the midde east and trying to concert shia dominance, we shouldnt be giving them money. China has human rights abuses. President trump called turkeyserturkeys erdogan the other day to congratulate them. They have human rights abuses. Why is china different . They have an capacity to cause mayhem in a critical part of the world. Let me ask you about your former role. You are the u. S. Ambassador to the vatican. There has been criticism of President Trumps administration not asking for a meeting with the pope. Whats your thought on it . I dont know what his agenda is. I know george bush visited the pope, i believe, every time he came to italy. Maybe President Trump has too crowded of an agenda. I hope aeearnestly he will take moment to meet with the pope and see what the holy sea can play a role in that area of the world. They shared words before. Is there bad blood there . I dont think theres bad blood, per se. I think pope francis has strayed into some areas that cause concern for many conservatives like me in the United States. Whereas Pope Benedict was much more aligned in articulating the evils of islamic terrorism and how we can fight it. Congressman, good to talk to you. Thank you for joining us. Hope youll come back again. Republican congressman rooney from florida, a member of the House Foreign Affairs committee. Right now, outside fox news in new york, protesters are demonstrating against bill oreilly. Hes on leave after fox news had a storm of accusations. Were going to talk about the decision to separate from bill oreilly when we come back. Exxonmobil reportedly wants back into russia. New reports say the oil giant is asking the Trump Administration to waive sanctions. How the secretary of state, who happens to be the former ceo of exxonmobil, plays into the decisi decision. Ill talk to one of the wall street journal reporters who helped break that story. Le. Heavily into basketball. Wait. Data just changed. Now shes into disc sports. Ah, no shes not. Since when . Since now. Shes into tai chi. She found disc sports too stressful. Hold on. Let me ask you this. Whats she gonna like six months from now . Who do we have on aerial karate . Steve. Steve. Steve. And alexis. Uh, no. Just steve. Just steve. Just steve. Live business, powered by sap. When you run live, you run simple. Im dr. Kelsey mcneely and some day you might be calling me an energy farmer. Energy lives here. Hey youve gotta see this. Cno. N. Alright, see you down there. Mmm, fine. Okay, what do we got . Okay, watch this. Do the thing we talked about. What do we say . Its going to be great. Watch. Remember what we were just saying . Go irish see that . Yes im gonna just go back to doing what i was doing. Find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. Were following new developments this morning after the bomb shell that fox news parted ways with bill oreilly. There are indications that more women could come forward and accuse him of Sexual Harassment. This comes after 21st century fox announced yesterday that it came to an agreement with the fire brand host that he would not return to the network after a series of accusations. In true fashion, oreilly is not going out quietly. Nbcs Senior Investigative and legal correspondent, cynthia mcfadden, joins me with the latest on whats happening. Cynthia . Good morning. 21st century fox, the company and bill oreilly agreed the anchor will not return to Fox News Channel after what they call a thcareful review republin th. Reporter the king of cable news is dethroned. Bill oreilly is leaving this chair and the network. Reporter the cable show once bearing his now, now the factor. Oreilly fired after Sexual Harassment allegations. Saying, in part, it is disheartening we part ways due to completely unfounded claims, but that is the unfortunate reality many of us in the public eye must live with today. The reality is, more than a half dozen women accused bill o r oreilly of Sexual Harassment. Fox news and oreilly paid more than 13 million to women. Ads have been pulled from the oreilly factor. Oreilly denied all allegations against him. It is a stunning downfall for the man who anchored the most lucrative broadcast in cable news. Thanks for watching us tonight. Reporter it generates 178 million in ad revenue in 2015 alone. Five Major Players left fox news in what has been a devastating year for the cable network. Among them, former fox chairman and ceo roger ailes. He resigned after former anchor, gretchen carlson, filed a Sexual Harassment lawsuit against him. The first domino in this dramatic turn of events. 21st century fox settled with carlson for a reportedly 20 million. Ailes denied the allegations. With oreillys ouster, fox may have been trying to get ahead of other possible alleged accusers. I know more accusers. Some have now told me, well, there is no point in coming forward now. Hes been fired. Others may have lawsuits against him, and they may file those lawsuits. Reporter oreilly out of the country on a Family Vacation shook hands tuesday with pope francis in the vat ranicans vi line. A contrast to his firing hours later. This morning, the nospin zone is no more. This morning, National Geographic and publisher reportedly say they have no plans to sever ties with oreilly, who has projects in the works. Inside fox news wednesday afternoon, staff was stunned to hear of oreillys firing, especially as the networks bosses seem to praise him, even as they pushed him out the door. Doesnt get weirder than that. Cynthia, good to see you. Thank you so much. Senior investigative and legal correspondent, cynthia mcfadden, setting the stage for more discussion on this. Some of the Sexual Harassment allegations against bill oreilly go back more than a decade. One of the most high profile came in 2004 from a thenproducer at fox, andrea. According to her lawsuit, which reportedly demanded a 60 million settlement initially, she claimed oreilly propositioned her several times and repeatedly told her graphic stories of his own sexual escapades and fantasies. She even claimed when she confronted oreilly about his actions against her and other women at the company, he told her, quote, if any women ever breathed a word, ill make her pay so dearly, shell wish shed never been born. Oreillys countersued, claiming she was trying to extort him. The two settled out of court. The details confidential. Oreilly told the viewers, quote, there was no wrongdoing in the case whatsoever by anyone. I want to bring in benedict, andreas lawyer. He prerepresented her then. Good to see you. Morning. You were shaking your head during the report. What was that in response to . Well, i have a lot of responses. One is that bill oreilly still refuses to be contrite. The interesting thi about this investigation by paul weiss, what had nothing to do with them letting mr. Oreilly go they let him go because of the Advertising Money and because of the stock price going down. Its all about the money. Its not about the you dont have to convince me of that. People are telling me there is a cultural shift in fox or the country. I think neither is true. This was pure economics. Paul, by the way, is the legal firm that was handling that investigation. Let me ask this, in the settlement, i know you cant talk much about it, when you say hes not being contrite, he was not contrite in the settlement you were involved in. Is that not a normal course of events in a settlement . Did you ask for an apology . I wasnt in a position to ask for an apology. I unfortunately had to tell andrea that i dont do causes, i do cases. Thats what she retained question more. I knew because of her position, if she was very famous and on the air, shed work again. But she was somebody no one knew. She was just a producer there. She would have never worked again because she brought this lawsuit. So i had to make sure that i maximized the settlement for her, because it would have to last maybe a lifetime. The language that bill oreilly used about that settlement is almost identical to the language he has been using for the last couple of weeks. About being targeted, about it being entirely unfounded, dont believe everything you read. Does this how does andrea feel about this . Is she feeling vindicated, or is it reliving the same victimization . She reached out to me yesterday, but i was in court. I will be calling her and speaking to her today. I will ask her that exact question. But i think that she was so upset back then in 2004. She wanted nothing more than for him to be relieved of his duties. Now, i guess, she probably feels that, hey, now you know i was telling the truth. By the way, fox news knew in 2004, bill oreilly knew in 2004, no one pays millions of dollars to anyone unless theres concrete, ir repureputabl repur in fairness, there are nuisance claims that are settled. Some companies dont go through it. If youre a rich person working for a rich company, you might pay it. I said millions. Hes made hundreds of millions. Fox makes billions. Ill tell you youre a lawyer so you know. Sure. They have responses. Oreilly said in a statement yesterday, quote, it is disheartening we part ways due to completely unfounded claims. How do we digest that . Well, i think, you know, now that hes gone, we dont have to digest it. We know that although he was telling everyone in the country that he was in a no spin zone, he is the spin master. And because he has three books right now on the best seller list, were not going to have to throw any benefits for him. As you saw, the publishers are sticking with him. Because its all about the money. Benedict, good to talk to you. Thank you for joining us on this. Benedict is andreas attorney. I want to bring in my colleague, stephanie ruhle, to talk more about this. Stephanie, i want to talk to you about the economics of this. First, it is important to note, you not only spoke with one of the recent accusers today, but you also spoke with gabe sherman, the new York Magazine writer who has been breaking the news all along. He said that oreilly was out before it happened. He was on your show. Tell me about those conversations. I saw gabe saying that Sexual Harassment at fox was on an industrial scale. Industrial scale. I just want to point out, ali, to benedicts point, fox making this move, it is about money. This is a chance where money and morality are lining up. But it is not like were seeing this massive cultural shift in terms of equality. To your point, the Big Companies with lots of money settle these nuisance suits, that is not what this is. We are not in a place anymore where companies are paying millions of dollars to some woman who says boys arent nice to me at work. These are real, systemic issues. I want to share a bit of what gabe sherman had to say earlier today. Bill oreilly operated within a system that roger ailes created, which allowed women to be subjected to serial Sexual Harassment. Many of the lieutenants that roger ailes promoted at the network with still there, including the copresident , bill shine, the general counsel, diane brandy, who many describe as enablers of Sexual Harassment. What the people named are, they might be big names in fox news, but within the 21st century fox empire, they are not big news. And this turns your attention to the broader company. Rupert myr Rupert Murdochs sons, who have a different sensibility than the culture we talked about at fox news. Now, theyre in the throes of trying to acquire in europe sky, which is the pay tv platform. It is an 11. 7 billion transaction. It would value the whole franchise, the whole company, at almost 23 billion. They need to get regulatory approval. This is the second time theyre up at bat to do this. This is a prize for James Murdoch. They tried to do this in 2011, and it didnt go through because of political pressure. They pulled the deal because of the phone hacking scandal. Then in 2013, james said, sky tv is the future. That is how they unlock their future in europe. Theyre just a month away from getting regulatory approval. They do not want to get hung up on an ethics issue with a Sexual Harassment case here in new york. Ultimately, stephanie, this issue of culture change, i would think that the last few years, and even the last year, have shown us one thing. Theres one swamp thats not getting drained. That is the swamp of culture that considers it acceptable to continue to objectify and harass women in the workplace. I think were maybe on the same side on this one. I think it was pure economics that forced this. I dont think anybody had a Second Thought about it at fox or the advertising companies. I think they realized they couldnt financially continue to support bill roreilly. I dont think there is a culture shift. I think James Murdoch doing the partnership, the deal to buy national gee i cant hanation, interest level. The sons, who is the future of the company, see this business. What they didnt have until now was the economics on their side. They had the sensibility, the point of view, but now theyve got 50 advertisers walking out the door. Theyve got this sky deal, which is major to the entire conglomerate in front of them. They now have the mojo to push against their father, to say this is a new school way. We are going to drive forward. Remember, while bill oreilly may be the biggest star over there, thats a machine they built at fox. The beat goes on. Stephanie, great to see you, my friend. Stephanie ruhle covering the story expentensively with us. Fox news protesters are demonstrating. Stephanie is at msnbc, across the road from fox news. There are protesters outside of fox news protesting against oreilly. The board is meeting today. It is a regularly scheduled meeting. Were going to continue our coverage of this when we come back. The socalled dreamer, reportedly the first to be deported under the Trump Administration, is fighting back in cruourt. How this case ended up in the hands of a judge who President Trump called out because of his mexican heritage. After becoming one of the largest Broadband Companies in the country. After expanding our Fiber Network coast to coast. These are the places we call home. We are centurylink. We believe in the power of the digital world. The power to connect. And thats what drives us everyday. Kevin, meet yourkeviner. Kevin Kevin Kevin Kevin Kevin Kevin Kevin kevin kevin trusted advice for life. Kevin, hows your mom . Life well planned. See what a Raymond James Financial Advisor can do for you. So President Trump may soon find himself facing off again with the same judge who was the target of trumps frequent and scathing attacks. This involves a new legal case brought by this guy youre looking at, juan montez. He is reportedly the first socalled dreamer deported to mexico by the Trump Administration back in february. Montez quafies for protection under theeferredction for childhood arrivals program. Its called daca. Hes now suing the government for access to records explaining how he got deported. The judge selected to preside over the case is this man, curiel, who was assigned at random. Now, you may remember that thencandidate trump repeatedly attacked curiel over his mexican heritage, as he oversaw the lawsuit against Trump University. I have a judge who is a hater of donald trump. A hater. Hes a hater. His name is gonzalo curiel. Hes a mexican. Were building a wall between here and mexico. The answer is, he is giving us more unfair rulings. Judge curiel, the socalled mexican, was born in the state of indiana. Last month, he approved a 25 million settlement deal between Trump University and students who say they overpaid for seminars that trump trump never admitted wrongdoing. Joining me now is ari melber. Despite the fact that the judge may be a fantastic judge, does this very vocal and visible spat between the two during the campaign create any conflict of interest . No, not at all. If it did, that would only incentivize people making attacks on judges, which are rare. The history you point to is important because, of course, Trump University was a business designed to give people Business Advice that went out of business. People then sued, feeling they were taken advantage of. They effectively won by settlement the 25 million. After all the heat and noise, which is some say a pattern with this president , the truth was that he didnt fair well in the case. Judge curiel never had subsntive issues and donald trump paid the 25 million right after the election. Professor clark who spoke to us earlier today said, the fact the president tried to pick a fight with judge curiel doesnt mean he gets knocked off cases against the government. That makes sense. The larger question is how this high profile test of the dreamer issue will play out. What would if you were President Trumps lawyers, what would you be advising . That he calls out that this is unusual . A judge he had a thing with is looking at the case, or he say nothing . If i were President Trumps lawyer, who is the first question i think about every day when i get up in the morning, lawyers almost always have the same piece of advice for clients. Whether theyre powerful ceos, president s or a random person caught up in litigation. That is, do not speak out of court. It will only hurt you in court. It will never help you in court. Judges of any kind, local judge or fancy, Supreme Court judge dont like cases tried in public. They look at whats going on inside the courtroom, not out. President s are different. Though this president is especially loud and different, president s are known to comment on cases before, during and after. They have other jobs and clients. I would be somewhat surprised, honestly, if President Trump went down the road of personally attacking this judge again. But anything is possible. I think the larger policy question here though is does this case reflect something about tougher immigration policies or not . The fact is, the february data does not show increased deportations yet. The question on everyones mind from a policy level is not this individual case. The facts are in dispute. But is there a concerted effort, through enforcement, to undo the programs, which to be clear, the president at a policy level said he would not be undoing daca. Jeff sessions yesterday said hes not. Said at the same time, if youre in the country or got here illegally, regardless of how long youve been here, you shouldnt feel safe about the whole thing. On a legal basis, this is a confusing issue. Ari, good to see you, buddy. Thank you. Thank you. Coming up, new reports say that exxonmobil wants to work around u. S. Sanctions on russia. The american oil giant is reportedly requesting a waiver to go back into business there. What both sides of the aisle are saying about the new development and about secretary of state Rex Tillerson, who used to be the ceo of exxonmobil. s her proble . Apparently, i kept her up all night. She said the future freaks her out. How come no one likes me, jim . Intel does just think of everything intels doing right now with artificial intelligence. And pretty soon ai is going to help executives like her see trends to stay ahead of her competition. No more sleepless nights. Were going to be friends im sorry about this. Dont be embarrassed of me, jim. Im getting excited about this we know the future. Were going to be friends because were building it. Hes a nascar champion whos shes a worldclass swimmer whos stared down the best in her sport. But for both of them, the most challenging opponent was. Pe blood clots in my lung. It was really scary. A dvt in my leg. I had to learn all i could to help protect myself. My doctor and i choose xarelto® xarelto®. To help keep me protected. Xarelto® is a latestgeneration blood thinner. Thats proven to treat and reduce the risk of dvt and pe blood clots from happening again. In clinical studies, almost 98 of patients on xarelto® did not experience another dvt or pe. Heres how xarelto works. Xarelto® works differently. Warfarin interferes with at least six bloodclotting factors. Xarelto® is selective. Targeting just one critical factor, interacting with less of your bodys natural bloodclotting function. Dont stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor as this may increase risk of blood clots. While taking, you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. It may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. Xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. Get help right away for unexpected bleeding, unusual bruising, or tingling. If youve had spinal anesthesia, watch for back pain or any nerve or musclerelated signs or symptoms. Do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. Tell your doctor before all planned medical or dental procedures and before starting xarelto® about any conditions, such as kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. Youve got to learn all you can. To help protect yourself from dvt and pe blood clots. Talk to your doctor about xarelto®. Theres more to know. Outrage is growing this morning over a wall street journal report saying exxonmobil is seeking a waiver from u. S. Sanctions against russia. The Company Wants to resume a joint oil venture with a russian staterun business. The russian staterun oil company. According to the report, exxonmobil renewed its efforts for approval this march, shortly after Rex Tillerson was sworn in as secretary of state. You can see the irony here. Tillerson is the companys former ceo. The state department, among other agencies, would be involved in approving the waiver. However, a state Department Spokesperson said tillerson is recusing himself from matters dealing with exxon for two years. Still, republican senator john mccain responded to the article, tweeting, exxon seeks u. S. Waiver to resume russian oil venture. He started with tweet with, are they crazy . Joining me now is the journalist who coauthored the piece. This is one of the crazy stories. Theyre doing what . The sanctions against russia involving not doing business with exxonmobil and not drilling for oil, particularly in the arctic, something the russians cant do without exxonmobil, was one of the biggest parts of the sanctions against russia for invading ukraine. Whats interesting is it is not just a company and the ceo is not just some person. These are basically Vladimir Putins closest allies. The cash cow in a lot of ways of the kremlin. Youre right, they needed exxons technology to explore some of these regions in the black sea, the arctic. For russia, it is very important, and thats why the sanctions were in place. For exxon, the sense we got in our reporting is that they need to start drilling at some point by this year. If not, they risk losing this venture and their other European Companies that are moving in. Its not like the optics are terrible, but for exxon, theyre like, if we dont move now, the venture will die. Exxonmobil is a very big company. At times, the Worlds Largest publicly traded company. Certainly the Biggest Energy company. But, in fact, there isrussias exports are their lifeline economically. It is huge. President obama used to say, this is what they sell. Russia makes money with oil and gas. Without that, theyre not a strong economy. Yeah, the sanctions were very much targeted to hit the company. In 2014, described it as a loyal lieutenant of iran. The dual is unbelievably political. In this environment in the United States with the investigations into russia, the concerns about collusion, you know, the optics and timing of this attempt to get back in is not great. What has a better chance of happening, this deal or me sprouting a head of hair . It seems unlikely. Mccain is going after it. Adam schiff, leading the investigation on the democratic side into the russian hacking and other things, theyre already out. Exxon is a powerful company. I think they are looking at the fact that European Countries have gotten waivers. Theyre saying, this is not fair. Some business sense to it. Theyre saying someone is going to do the deal if we dont. Someone else will. Correct. It is not a crazy argument. But the politics are such that it is the optics are terrible. Good to see you. Thank you for joining us. Thank you. Wall street journal reporter and the author of the article. You have to read it. It is an important article. Who the next president is going to be of americas oldest ally, france. The top candidates have extremely different platforms. Could brexit will followed by frexit . When we come back. If you have medicare parts a and b and want more coverage, guess what . You could apply for a Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan whenever you want. No enrollment window. No waiting to apply. That means now may be a great time to shop for an aarp Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. Medicare doesnt cover everything. And like all standardized Medicare Supplement Insurance Plans, these help cover some of what medicare doesnt pay. So dont wait. Call now to request your free decision guide. It could help you find the aarp Medicare Supplement plan that works for you. 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Side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. Nows the time for a better moment of proof. Ask your doctor about victoza®. Were just days away from a pretty big event. The beginning of frances president ial election. If you thought our election season was crazy, just wait. There are 11 people on the ballot. If no one gets more than half of the votes the top two candidates go on to the next round. Five of the 11 are serious contenders including marine le pen. Daily beast writer the insane french elections that could [ bleep ] us all. He didnt use [ bleep ] in the title. What a beautiful shot behind you, in paris getting ready for this thing. You drew the short straw on the assignments. You joke about this but you say victory for either one would mean an end to the diplomater order, why do you feel so strongly about that . It is not that i feel so strongly about it instead they feel so strongly about it. Both of whom are very pro russian feel like they want to get out of the european union. They want to get out of it. They are concept able about nato. Essentially what theyre preaching is a national and socialist view even though one is on the communist left and one is on the fashion rigcious righ. When David Cameron called the referendum, he thought he would win it last night le pen drove home how she wants to stamp out and restrict immigration. Authorities have announced arrested in what they say is a fwarted terror a tack. A lot of people in france are feeling assured by her. Very strong, antiim graimmigr antiislam stance. She is not the only antiimmigrant and antiislam candidate. One of the other top contenders is. It is like trump, if you stop immigrants that makes you safer, but the truth is the people that were arrested were french citizens. And the more you preach antiimmigrant quasiracist and zenophobic and antiislam philosophies the more likely you are to encourage a small group to take up arms. I think everyone in Counter Terrorism knows that, but the people that vote for le pen dont seem to know that. Thank you for your reporting, i hope your tough assignment ends soon. Well take a break and well be right back. Wh ah he [gas pouring] [slurps loudly] [engine starting] [loud slurping continues] Nosy Neighbor with a glad bag, full of trash. What happens next . Nothing. Only glad has febreze to neutralize odors for 5 days. Guaranteed. Even the most perceptive noses wont notice the trash. Be happy. Its glad. I own my own company. I had some severe fatigue, some funny rashes. Finally, listening to my wife, went to a doctor. And i became diagnosed with hodgkins lymphoma. That diagnosis was tough. I had to put my trust in somebody. When i first met steve, we recommended chemotherapy, and then we did high dose therapy and then autologous stem cell transplant. Unfortunately, he went on to have progressive disease i thought that he would be a good candidate for immune therapy. Its an intravenous medicine that is going to make his immune system evade the tumor. With chemotherapy, i felt rough, fatigue, nauseous. And with immune therapy weve had such a positive result. Im back to working hard. Ive honestly never felt this great. I believe the future of immunotherapy at ctca is very bright. The evolution of cancer care is here. Learn more at cancercenter. Com Appointments Available now. That does it for me, thank you for watching this episode of msnbc live. On alivelshi on twitter and snapchat. Hard line. The Trump Administration blasting the Iran Nuclear Deal calling iran a global threat. We buy them off for a short period of time and someone has to deal with it later. We dont see that that is a prudent way to deal with iran, certainly not in the context of their other disruptive activities. Were going to speak up and were going to act against their lawlessness. No longer a factor. Even bill oriley an end of an era here. Bill oriley is it leaving this network and this chair after over 20 years. And an oil deal with russia. Good day, im Andrea Mitchell in washington. Iran is