The relentless and often intense efforts by judy and scott, the partners and associates and staff of gilbert llp law firm, thats where we are right now they made me take the jacket off. I didnt want to take it off. Jill suckman of knicker bacher have been inconceivable. Their efforts have been inconceivable. Senator Patrick Leahy of vermont has been instrumental in shepherding the arrival of this day, and i want to thank all of the members of congress from all sides of the aisle such as senator representatives Chris Van Holland and barbara lee and numerous others who spoke up or visited me, subjected themselves to my ranting and helped me regain some of my weight. Even in cuba m ms melt in your mouth, not in your hand. To all those who tried to visit me, but were not able to. Thank you for trying. Im at your service as soon as i get new teeth, and i hope theyll be strong and sharp enough to make a difference. To the washington Jewish Community, ron halber in particular, and his staff of the Jewish Community relations county, the jcrc, all the executives director, staff and volunteers of participating jcrcs, Federation Synagogue schools, and other jewish, christian, and muslim organizations nationwide, god bless you and thank you. It was crucial to my survival knowing that i was not forgotten. Your abbings have been sustaining, and to my extended family, especially my sister bonnie, my cousins and friends, howard, bruce, our shabbat group, larry, and so many others who exemplify the true meaning of friendship, thank you. For those that helped in securing my freedom, who i am only nominally aware at this juncture, i promise i will express a more direct and personal gratitude just as soon as i know who you are, but ultimately, ultimately, the decision to arrange for and secure my release was made in the oval office. To president obama and the nfc staff, thank you. If my last letter to president obama, i wrote that despite my fiveyear tenure in captivity, i would not want to trade places with him, and i certainly want to trade places with him on this glorious day. Five years of isolation notwithstanding, i did not need daily briefings to be cognizant of what are undoubtedly incredible challenges facing our nation and the global community. I also feel compelled to share with you my utmost respect for and fondness of the people of cuba. In no way are they responsible for the ordeal to which my family and i have been subjected. To me kuban cubanos are yesterdayably talented and smart. It pains me to see them treated so unjustly as a consequence of two governments mutually belligerent policies. Five and a half decades of history show us that such belligerence two wrongs never make a right. I hope we can get beyond these belligerent policies, and i was very happy to hear what the president had to say today. It was particularly cool to be sitting next to the secretary of state as he was hearing about his Job Description for the next couple of months. In all seriousness, this is a game changer, which i fully suppo support. A jushlt lesson that i have learned through this experience is freedom is not free, and that is personified by scott and our entire team. We must never forget the two pillars of moses kov independent freedom and responsibility. Im incredibly blessed finally to have the freedom to resume a positive and constructive life, but for now ill close with a quote from one of nelson demils characters. Its good to be home. Thank you, and i wish you all a happy holiday season. Thank you. What are your wishes for u. S. Cuban relations . Thank you. I support the president. Thank you very much. Happy hanukkah. Happy hanukkah. So you just hearted from the former hostage in cuba, allen gross, his final words, its good to be home. He thanked his wife and congress on both sides of the aisle, those that came to visit him, and those that never forgot about him, and those that helped to free him. Also groups that prayed for him. He said knowing i wasnt forgotten was crucial to my survival. He also thanks president obama and said that this is a game changer that he fully supports. I bet were going to get delivering opinions on that today. Monica crowley was here and listening to allen gross. He said it was a game changer that he fully supports the president s actions today. Obviously, he is going to say that. He is now free after five years in captivity. What do you think . Well, i think all of us celebrate the release of any american who has been held in captivity particularly by a regime as odious of the castro regime in cuba. I think we ought to be cautious about celebrating the way this was done. Gretchen, this was not just the cuban government as a gesture of goodwill releasing mr. Gross. This was a prisoner swap. In exchange for mr. Gross, we released three cuban spies who are responsible for providing information that actually shot down a plane. I want to show who they are. Herago hernandez, linked to the downing of two civilian planes. He was serving two life sentences. Louise medina and antonio guerarro, and you have renee gonzalez, fernando gonzalez. To tie up what you are saying, its not like this was an even swap for humanitarian aid workers that we were for some reason holding in the United States. Look, it sounds like this was a pretext for doing what the president wanted to do all along in terms of changing the broader policy toward cuba. Again, its great to have mr. Gross back on american soil, but it sounds like he was a human pawn for doing what the president wanted to do anyway. There is a case to be made, gretchen, for the listing of the cuban trade embargo, but this is not it. What did we get in exchange, gretchen . We got nothing. We got no concessions from this regime at all. Correct. The president said the new policy will make it easier for americans to travel to cuba. He doesnt talk about the cubans who are still there under a dictator. Well, look, there have been a lot of people on both sides of the aisle arguing for many years that this trade embargo has outlived its usefulness, including my old boss in the early 1990s, former president nixon, who wrote in one of his books at the time we should consider lifting the embargo. The difference between those arguments and whats going on now is that those people who argued for that laid out conditions, that the castro regime would have to undertake serious and meaningful and sustained political and economic liberalization, which has not occurred. I thought it was so fascinating to watch the press releases come out for members of congress, because they always come out when you have a big event, but i was surprised to hear this one from senator bob menendez. He says this, democrats, president obamas actions have vindicated the brutal behavior of the cuban government. There is no ekwifl ens between an International Aid worker and convicted spies who are found guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage against our nation. He goes on, monica, to say that this sets a dangerous precedent. A democrat saying that about the president. Yeah. I mean, the signal thats being sent to terrorists and dictatorships around the world is if you grab an american or two, youll be able to extract serious concession from this administration. The other question that somebody needs to ask the president is in making this argument for listing the trade embargo, he says, look, sanctions dont work. Okay. Well, if he really believes that, then does that also apply to the u. S. Sanctions regime against iran . If he believes that on cuba . I mean, on north korea and does he believe it on russia . Right now the u. S. Led sanction regimes against all of those ktsz, and if he believes it hasnt worked in the case of cuba, does he believe it will work in the case of iran, north korea, and russia wra . Farreaching consequences and ramifications of the move today. Monica, thanks for being here. Biphil keating, whats the reaction in little cuba today . Well, the reaction here tends to be about specifically the agreement made between the Obama White House these are your classic cuban exims coming right after the castros, fidel castro, took power back in 1959. These people want the castros gone. They want the communist government out, and they want the u. S. Embargo to stay rigid, if not get stronger. None of these people had an ability here to watch allen grosss several Minute Press Conference that he just gave from his Attorneys Office in washington d. C. Where alan gross said he supports everything that was agreed to by president obama and raul castro. These people do not support what has happened. They are equating the president with the castros and their signage. For example, a rumor that fidel castro died, you would have parades and cars going slowly down the street. You have them out today. The miami dade sheriffs department, helicopters are up in the air, and this is typically what happens here in cafe versailles. Thanks much. Time for my take now. What has changeed in cuba today with the president s announcement he wants to normalize relations with that country . Cuban citizens cant do much of anything freely without fear of imprisonment or even death. Questions still remain about what the United States has given up in exchange. Cuba is no closer to moving towards a democracy for its people, and you have to wonder if this move will now inspire other nations to capture americans as hostages knowing this Administration May be open to making deals made up of consegments. The most Interesting Development to me is the bipartisan criticism of the president s move. This president plans to act alone on many issues in the last two years of his presidency, sidestepping congress on a lot of important issues. Putting trust in a communist nation to change its ways based on their word. Coming up on the real story today, new detail on a critical player in the deal to bring american allen gross back from cuba. Im going to speak live with the vatican spokesperson about the pontiffs role in this historic move. Plus, in her own words, taya kyle speaking me exclusively about her husbands incredible life and the new film depicting his heroic military service. [ narrator ] mama sherman and the legion of super fans. 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. Fox news alert. President obama announces a major policy shift today with cuba. We are learning pope francis played a key role in the negotiations which lasted many months. Meantime, florida senator marco rubio expressing his gratitude for the pontiffs role in bringing allen gross to freedom. My understanding is that the influence was on the release of mr. Gross, which i have not criticized. As i said, im happy that he is with the cuban people. I would also ask his holyness to take up the cause of freedom and democracy, which is critical for a free people, for a people to truly be free. Joining us on the telephone Senior Communications advisor to the vatican, greg burke. Its great to have you with us all the way from italy today. Obviously, you have known for some time the pope was involved in these negotiations. Why was it so important that pope francis to be involved with relationships between the United States and cuba . Well, i think pope francis could get the ball rolling and we said that in the vatican Statement Today that he had written a letter to both raul castro and to barack obama asking him to try to get this going and resolving it. Its all sort of the spirit of francis, which is the encounter. I know its not perfect because there are a lot of Strong Political feelings on this, but he is of the feeling and the holy is always of the feeling that its always better to be talking than not talking and even when castro took power, it was difficult for the catholic church, and things happened as well. We always kept diplomatic relations open. It took a while for john paul ii to get there on the trip. He was finally able to do that. The church able to carve out some space, but basically the point is that francis got the ball rolling, and then vatican diplomats have a long history of sort of good oldfashioned quiet diplomacy, and they were able to keep it going, and keep the momentum, not that francis has a magic wand, but obviously there was some willingness here to see the holy as an honest broker. Weve come to know that about him in many ways, he is unpredictable. What message might he give to the cuban people who are suffering still under a dictatorship. I think, you know, the way that pope francis would see this or that the church would see this is, okay, this doesnt solve everything. This doesnt make it all perfect, but if it does open things up, if it does open things up, and there may be claims that it wont, but if it opens up relations with the u. S. , theyre talking, theres more communications with the u. S. , well, then that story will get out as well. I mean, thats been one of the problems here is that a lot of americans, certainly not the cuban community, but a lot of americans are not aware of the situation in cuba, and that is going to be helped by this. Right. Before i let you go, i did look at your twitter feed, and it turns out that it happens to be the birthday today of the pope. Good day from vatican. I understand there was a tango, and he had a cape too . A good day for a mojito, and a good day for tango as well. I walked through the square. There were hundreds, if not thousands of people out there for a big tango dance to celebrate the 78th birthday today. Looks a lot younger than that in mind and spirit for sure. Greg burke, great to speak with you again. Have a great one. Thank you. Thanks. A lawyer falls unconscious in court. What caused her to pass out and the high profile client shes representing. Plus, one big retailer taking a lot of heat after cancelling some layaway orders, and we all know christmas just days away. Why the heck would that happen . You total your brand new car. Nobodys hurt,but there will still be pain. It comes when your Insurance Company says theyll only pay threequarters of what it takes to replace it. What are you supposed to do, drive threequarters of a car . Now if you had a Liberty Mutual new car replacement, youd get your whole car back. I guess they dont want you driving around on three wheels. Smart. New car replacement is just one of the features that come standard with a base Liberty Mutual policy. And for drivers with accident forgivness,rates wont go up due to your first accident. Learn more by calling switch to Liberty Mutual and you can save up to 423. For a free quote today,call Liberty Mutual insurance at see Car Insurance in a whole new light. Liberty mutual insurance. Welcome back to the real story. Some shoppers at kmart claiming that the Big Box Store is stealing christmas from them. The company flooded with complaints from people who say they put gifts on layaway only for the store to then cancel the purchases. In many cases kmart is saying its going take up to 14 days to issue monetary refunds. So what recourse do buyers have and how can you avoid getting into a situation like this . Arthur and jonathan are Defense Attorneys and former prosecutors. Arthur, let me start with you today. The basis of the story is that a lot of people put things on layaway. In some cases they actually paid in full and then they got an email from kmart saying, sorry, youre not going to actually get that. Two different situations here. There are one of the people who followed the rules. You know, thats what the layaway plan is. Its a contract. Ill pay for it over time xshgs then it will be mine. The people who did pay and if you go on the intbt, a lot of people paid a week before it was due. They have a legitimate gripe. Kmart has a legitimate ability under the contract to say, hey, under the contract it was supposed to be paid by december 13th. Its december 14th. You didnt pay it. Were taking it back. Its the first group that you really question. Why is kmart doing this . This is a Public Relations nightmare, and its very hurtful for individuals right here. Especially because if theyre not going to get the money back for 14 days, you got to wonder what kmart is doing with the money, first of all. Secondly, a lot of people, you know, thats the money they had to spend for christmas, and now they cant buy another gift because money is tied up in something theyre not even going to receive. Yeah. Kmart is definitely on the hook for this. For starters, layaway contracts are perfectly legal, but they are as much a bad idea. Not for one reason, you dont walk in your lawyer, arthur, and say let me negotiate this layaway contract. If i cancel it, i want my money back in 72 hours. Its an adhesion contract. What the heck is that . Thats what it is. What does it mean . Number two, i cant imagine i thought when you pay money on layaway, they hold the product for you and when you are done paying. That apparently isnt happening. Thats what could make these contracts actually illegal. Its whether the okay, now you finished paying it off, lets see if that give me my stuff. Lets see if the holly hobby oven or that doll, whatever is still there, and now its not there, because they already sold it out in the store, and now theyre giving you your money back. Thats what a lot of the beef is from the customers. Look, you should have held these gifts. Its a cash flow business. I get it. They dont need that. Lets listen to what kmart is saying about this. Heres the statement. We are in the process of contacting those customers who have been affected and are working with them to resolve the issue. Not all of their contracts were canceled, and many of them have already received some of the items they ordered through online layaway. We are sensitive that this is ae special time of year, and are working hard to find and deliver these items to customers before the holidays. All right. Youre both loaded. Well done. Is that i better p. R. Message or legal message . Its both. I mean, a simple solution would be hand all these people a gift card to kmart or just hand them a gift card. We dont have to worry about the accounting yet and let them