Transcripts For MSNBCW Andrea Mitchell Reports 20150210 : co

Was killed in a Coalition Air strike. A senior official says the evidence was a photograph, a photograph emailed to the family and appears to show her dead with trauma injuries. The official says the injuries are not inconsistent with the sort of injuries that would be suffered by victims of an air strike but the official emphasizes they could be the result of number of other causes and do not know the timing of her death. Joining me now, keir simmons live in jordan and richard engel. Keir, you interviewed jordanian leaders and ive talked to officials here and theyve been denying any of the air strikes last week in retaliation for the death of the jordanian pilot, and the gruesome video of him being burned alive, that any of those air strikes were within 140 miles of where Kayla Mueller had last been known. That said theres no way of knowing where she was and again, no way of knowing when and where she was killed. Reporter yeah, thats right. In fact the commander in the Jordanian Air force told me a few days ago that the isis claims that she had been killed by a Jordanian Air strike were lies. And he specifically said andrea that they had not been bombing in the place that isis said kayla was. He then went on to raise some substantial questions. He said you cant trust isis. He pointed out that in fact isis in the jordanian governments view had lied about when that jordanian pilot had died. And he said that how could isis know who if you like was bombing them. That was a difficult thing on the ground to be able to assess. He painted a picture of this being a very untrust worthy claim. And andrea we spent a good deal of time with those pilots involved in the continuing Bombing Campaign. They are professional and on one occasion they even called off the air strike having prepared and gotten all of the parachutes on. We did get a sense of a careful campaign of bombing as careful as any Bombing Campaign can be andrea. And richard engel, we know from a letter now that the family has released and this is a handwritten letter that was carried out by presumably the french hostages that had been one had said he was one of her cell mates for a while. This was written last spring when those hostages came out. And its just heartbreaking, one paragraph, if you could say i suffered it all throughout this whole experience it is only in knowing how much suffering i have put you through. I will never ask you to forgive me as i do not deserve forgiveness. I remember mom telling me all in all in the end the only one you really have is god. Ive come to a place in experience where every sense of the world i have surrendered myself to our creator because literally there was no one else. Reporter i almost dont no what i dont know what to say. Reporter i can imagine this young girl in captivity writing this letter knowing that shes handing it off to other hostages about to go free and saying please if you in fact make it out that door and get to someplace safe can you deliver this family this letter to my family and friends, almost like shes throwing a letter in a bottle off of a boat. It is horrendous that shes finding her spirituality and talking about nobody else but god. Shes apologizing to her family for having put them through this tremendous ordeal. I just i can see that situation in my head with this young woman sitting in the room writing this page long letter and i cant even imagine what it would be like for her. And saying that she has fight left in her and they treated her well. The parents had written and published their writering to the isis captors saying you treated her as a guest and we ask you as you treated her as a guest to take care of her. There certainly is a feeling that she was already dead at that point. The only question was whether they had used the occasion of the Jordanian Air strike to try to blame jordan and the coalition for her death, something that had already occurred or whether it in fact had occurred that way. Richard . Well theres one inconsistency in isis own messaging which could be revealing in all of this. In your report a few minutes ago and that was news to me that there was photographic evidence that confirmed to the family that she was killed. The photograph shows that she died of some sort of blast injury or consistent injury consistent with an air strike or trauma i think the word you used. Exactly. Reporter that is revealing. That is revealing. It shows she died perhaps in some sort of explosion with debris and shrapnel. But this is a war zone. There are a lot of people active in the war zone. There are there is the assad army which is bombing isis. There are the Coalition Air strikes. There are the bombs that are made by isis themselves making car bombs and truck bombs all the time. The fact she died in some sort of traumatic explosion doesnt mean necessarily it was a Jordanian Air strike and as jordanian officials said how would they know . You dont see the planes flying 100s of miles an hour not carrying jordanian flags behind them. Thats one thing. What i was talking about earlier, the inconsistency of the messaging. On twitter and that is the means that isis used to put out these photographs of this claim on friday, there was one twitter stream that came out and said it was a Jordanian Air strike that killed her and we know it was the jordanians. There was another one that said it was the syrian crusader alliance, which suggests that they didnt exactly know which air strikes and that perhaps it was an assad air strike which would be a little bit more credible if you go back to the reporting from the pentagon that says there werent any Coalition Air strikes at the time in that area. Exactly. Richard engel, a lot more to be unearthed but of course the tragedy is the most important the human tragedy of this the sadness of this 26yearold womans death. Thanks to keir simmons and richard engel. Joining me now is steve clemons, you know a lot more than you were able to report about the whole process because you were involved in the very early efforts on behalf of Kayla Muellers family to try to find her. I think that in throughout these episodes with a number of hostages, that it is a horrible thing to see such bright lights. Kaylas letter will be historic. It is such a flash of brilliant humanity amidst some of the most horrible scenes that weve seen. And i think it is excruciating talking with any of those that have been involved with this effort to get these various hostages away. Peter theo curtis was involved with qatari captors, these isis group has yet to at least with any americans has not released a single american hostage. They have ransomed out other hostages but no americans. This is just a terrible terrible situation. We should remember james foley, steven sutloff and they were with Kayla Mueller and they were beheaded horrifically. What do we know about the special forces last july 4th that tried to find them and apparently a couple of days too late. They found evidence she was there, strands of hair. I think special forces operation what i can say is that let me say this. John mccain, senator john mccain has been in touch with the mueller family he has been constituents with joe donnelly talked with the family through the entire episode. Both senators working with the white house and families discussed these special Operations Forces possibilities. They were involved and i know senator mccain as he told me this personally was in favor of these rescue missions. This particular one where they didnt find them sometimes the intelligence doesnt work out and in other cases people are tipped off and odd set of circumstances. Its very high risk. The president has been dedicated. We saw this and one of the interesting things when Kayla Muellers name was first put out two weeks ago accidentally by Dennis Mcdonough on a sunday morning talk show and there was a great deal of worry that would cause damage for her and all of the networks walked that back to keep it away. It was indicative that the president of the United States and staff had her mind at the tip of their thoughts and were able to reveal that. Well actually reminds me of how how much the Reagan White House focused on the hostages in beirut. I think the bigger thing a continual problem for the commander in chief. Theres been some confusion, clearly this letter now shows us what was in the mueller familys mind because she says im being treated well and im actually getting food. Ive gained weight. She suggests that she doesnt want any extraordinary efforts to find her. So that feeds into the whole question of whether they didnt want the rescue mission they denied that yesterday. I dont know if theres anything we know about that. I think that there are various people who have been directly in touch with the mueller family through the different stages. I know some of them and cant it would be remiss for me to reveal what they said. That said i think the mueller family, from what i know has been incredibly resilient through this process and had confidence at the end of the day that the various pieces of this effort to get her out would succeed and they were incredibly resilient. This is a broader example for the whole country. This kind of practice that weve seen, this horrific practice is not going away. We will have other americans kidnapped and held for ransom and killed. We need to talk about how we begin dealing with this not in perhaps a systemic way is probably the wrong word but this is the tip of the iceberg of what may be coming given our experiences with isis. I think the mueller family gave an incredible strength and confidence through this we should learn lessons from. Coming up next more power as the president prepares to ask congress to authorize the war already against isis. But for how long . Dont speak, obamas message i dont want to be coy, the Prime Minister and i have a real difference around iran sanctions. O smell like i sweat money. I want to smell the way champagne tastes. I love champagne. Infuse your laundry with. Up to 12 weeks of luxurious longlasting scents. Unstopables in wash scent booster. I want my foyer to smell more like a foyer. I want his bedroom to smell like hes away at boarding school. Surround yourself with up to 6 hours of luxurious, longlasting scents. Introducing new unstopables air refresher. Hey, girl. Is it crazy that your soccer trophy is talking to you right now . It kinda is. Its as crazy as you not rolling over your old 401k. Cue the horns. Just harness the confidence it took you to win me and call td ameritrades rollover consultants. Theyll help with the hassle by guiding you through the whole process step by step. And theyll even call your old provider. Its easy. Even she could do it. Whatever, janet. For all the confidence you need td ameritrade. You got this. Americans drink 48 billion bottles of water every year. 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. And we continue on the breaking news talking about isis. Of course the death of Kayla Mueller. Efforts for congressional military authorization against isis are taking on a urgency with her death. The white house tells nbc news that negotiations are continuing between the white house and members of congress on a proposed authorization to use force. Months after air strikes against isis first began. Im joined by ambassador nicholas burns, former a. M. Bass do to nato and greece and joe scarborough, host of morning joe. How important is it that this updated authorization be passed and there be some agreement . We know democrats and republicans are on opposite sides of the strength and what it should entail as far as boots on the ground. Congress needs to speak out and need to reauthorize this. The fact that of course in the fall they abandoned ship got out of town started campaigning before talking about what many consider to be the most dangerous threat to the United States since september 11th certainly was a problem. There is youre right, theres a great distance between what many on the right and many on the left want to do. Lindsey graham is talking about the possibility of 10,000 boots on the ground. John mccain obviously wants to take a very aggressive stance. If we thought what happened in march of 2003 was a difficult undertaking, that seems fairly simple compared to what american troops would be headed into if in fact they did go back to iraq. And with so many urgent Foreign Policy considerations right now, nick burns, is this the right time to have a dustup with our closest middle ally israel, about the president saying yesterday its not protocol to have a foreign leader coming in asking to is a dress congress being invited to address congress two weeks before an election without any notification to the state department or white house. In fact, the state department indicating that the secretary of state was misled and netanyahu has said hes not backing down. Im not sure its the president who chose this argument. It was netanyahu who caused it. I would look at this from two perspectives, first from an american perspective. Why would we want to interfere with the israeli elections that happen two weeks after the Prime Ministers speech to congress. Were effectively telling the labor party, friends of the United States that her competitor will have priority and place in the capital of the United States. I dont think its wise for the Prime Minister and his ambassador in washington to pick this fight with the administration despite the open differences between president obama and Prime Minister netanyahu. Were very Close Friends with israel. As this iran issue heads towards march 24th the deadline for an agreement, framework of an agreement, were going to need to be unified in some respects with israel. Its unwise on both fronts. I thought with all of the criticism, including from people like Abraham Foxman in the United States that netanyahu should bail out, but he indicated hes going to show up and give that speech. Joe biden and others say they are not going to show up and these are strong supporters of israel and strong supporters of apec and israel in every other instance. Joe, i wanted to play the president s News Conference with Angela Merkel when he took a shot at the israeli Prime Minister verbally. As much as i love ang la if she was two weeks away from an election, she probably would not have received an invitation to the white house. And i suspect she wouldnt have asked for one. So you know the and netanyahu tweet, im determined to speak before congress to stop iran. Re retweet if i have your support. I think the fallout is actually a bit going to be a bit rougher for john boehner and the republicans in the house than it is even for netanyahu. Obviously hes a political opportunist like any politician two weeks before their election. And he sees this and obviously hes bold and sees this as positive for his campaign. I will tell you that a lot of sources have been telling me that Top Republican Foreign Policy leaders, that have worked in past administrations have been calling john boehner, have been extraordinarily critical of the speaker offering this invitation. And have suggested strongly that he rescind that invitation that this does breach protocol and that this is a terrible move to make because the next republican president may have to face a Democratic Congress doing the same thing. So john boehner is certainly hearing not just from democrats and not just protests from people like joe biden but also some Top Republican Foreign Policy leaders over the past 20 to 30 years. Let me ask you both finally whether netanyahu is correct to be concerned that this white house is rushing into an agreement, an ill considered agreement with iran one that cannot be adequately verified. Let me ill jump in first and then i will allow myself to be corrected here. Yes, i think Benjamin Netanyahu and republicans on the hill believe that this president for all of his strengths, he is not such a great negotiator, that hes willing to give up too much to get a deal. And republicans on the hill dont trust this president to negotiate any better than netanyahu or a lot of israelis trust him. Nick burns. Andrea i negotiated as you know for the Bush Administration sanctions against iran was involved in that policy. I see president obamas policy in iran as a direct extension of what president george w. Bush was trying to do. I see a unity between the two administrations. So i have to think that some of this criticism of president obama is just simply partisan. The fact is none much us on the outside know what the end game is like. We dont know what exactly the issues are that separate iran and United States. But we know iran is very much isolated right now. And i dont think its a sure bet theres going to be an agreement. I see secretary kerry in fact trying to run a very tough negotiation against the iranians and try to leverage them and intimidate them. Frankly, it would be helpful to have unity in the United States to back up our negotiators because were amonth away five weeks away from a very important deadline. I hope they are going to be in agreement, but i think this administration will stick to its guns and not allow i think that would be the point republicans would make because of the work of the Coalition Air<\/a> strike. A senior official says the evidence was a photograph, a photograph emailed to the family and appears to show her dead with trauma injuries. The official says the injuries are not inconsistent with the sort of injuries that would be suffered by victims of an air strike but the official emphasizes they could be the result of number of other causes and do not know the timing of her death. Joining me now, keir simmons live in jordan and richard engel. Keir, you interviewed jordanian leaders and ive talked to officials here and theyve been denying any of the air strikes last week in retaliation for the death of the jordanian pilot, and the gruesome video of him being burned alive, that any of those air strikes were within 140 miles of where Kayla Mueller<\/a> had last been known. That said theres no way of knowing where she was and again, no way of knowing when and where she was killed. Reporter yeah, thats right. In fact the commander in the Jordanian Air<\/a> force told me a few days ago that the isis claims that she had been killed by a Jordanian Air<\/a> strike were lies. And he specifically said andrea that they had not been bombing in the place that isis said kayla was. He then went on to raise some substantial questions. He said you cant trust isis. He pointed out that in fact isis in the jordanian governments view had lied about when that jordanian pilot had died. And he said that how could isis know who if you like was bombing them. That was a difficult thing on the ground to be able to assess. He painted a picture of this being a very untrust worthy claim. And andrea we spent a good deal of time with those pilots involved in the continuing Bombing Campaign<\/a>. They are professional and on one occasion they even called off the air strike having prepared and gotten all of the parachutes on. We did get a sense of a careful campaign of bombing as careful as any Bombing Campaign<\/a> can be andrea. And richard engel, we know from a letter now that the family has released and this is a handwritten letter that was carried out by presumably the french hostages that had been one had said he was one of her cell mates for a while. This was written last spring when those hostages came out. And its just heartbreaking, one paragraph, if you could say i suffered it all throughout this whole experience it is only in knowing how much suffering i have put you through. I will never ask you to forgive me as i do not deserve forgiveness. I remember mom telling me all in all in the end the only one you really have is god. Ive come to a place in experience where every sense of the world i have surrendered myself to our creator because literally there was no one else. Reporter i almost dont no what i dont know what to say. Reporter i can imagine this young girl in captivity writing this letter knowing that shes handing it off to other hostages about to go free and saying please if you in fact make it out that door and get to someplace safe can you deliver this family this letter to my family and friends, almost like shes throwing a letter in a bottle off of a boat. It is horrendous that shes finding her spirituality and talking about nobody else but god. Shes apologizing to her family for having put them through this tremendous ordeal. I just i can see that situation in my head with this young woman sitting in the room writing this page long letter and i cant even imagine what it would be like for her. And saying that she has fight left in her and they treated her well. The parents had written and published their writering to the isis captors saying you treated her as a guest and we ask you as you treated her as a guest to take care of her. There certainly is a feeling that she was already dead at that point. The only question was whether they had used the occasion of the Jordanian Air<\/a> strike to try to blame jordan and the coalition for her death, something that had already occurred or whether it in fact had occurred that way. Richard . Well theres one inconsistency in isis own messaging which could be revealing in all of this. In your report a few minutes ago and that was news to me that there was photographic evidence that confirmed to the family that she was killed. The photograph shows that she died of some sort of blast injury or consistent injury consistent with an air strike or trauma i think the word you used. Exactly. Reporter that is revealing. That is revealing. It shows she died perhaps in some sort of explosion with debris and shrapnel. But this is a war zone. There are a lot of people active in the war zone. There are there is the assad army which is bombing isis. There are the Coalition Air<\/a> strikes. There are the bombs that are made by isis themselves making car bombs and truck bombs all the time. The fact she died in some sort of traumatic explosion doesnt mean necessarily it was a Jordanian Air<\/a> strike and as jordanian officials said how would they know . You dont see the planes flying 100s of miles an hour not carrying jordanian flags behind them. Thats one thing. What i was talking about earlier, the inconsistency of the messaging. On twitter and that is the means that isis used to put out these photographs of this claim on friday, there was one twitter stream that came out and said it was a Jordanian Air<\/a> strike that killed her and we know it was the jordanians. There was another one that said it was the syrian crusader alliance, which suggests that they didnt exactly know which air strikes and that perhaps it was an assad air strike which would be a little bit more credible if you go back to the reporting from the pentagon that says there werent any Coalition Air<\/a> strikes at the time in that area. Exactly. Richard engel, a lot more to be unearthed but of course the tragedy is the most important the human tragedy of this the sadness of this 26yearold womans death. Thanks to keir simmons and richard engel. Joining me now is steve clemons, you know a lot more than you were able to report about the whole process because you were involved in the very early efforts on behalf of Kayla Mueller<\/a>s family to try to find her. I think that in throughout these episodes with a number of hostages, that it is a horrible thing to see such bright lights. Kaylas letter will be historic. It is such a flash of brilliant humanity amidst some of the most horrible scenes that weve seen. And i think it is excruciating talking with any of those that have been involved with this effort to get these various hostages away. Peter theo curtis was involved with qatari captors, these isis group has yet to at least with any americans has not released a single american hostage. They have ransomed out other hostages but no americans. This is just a terrible terrible situation. We should remember james foley, steven sutloff and they were with Kayla Mueller<\/a> and they were beheaded horrifically. What do we know about the special forces last july 4th that tried to find them and apparently a couple of days too late. They found evidence she was there, strands of hair. I think special forces operation what i can say is that let me say this. John mccain, senator john mccain has been in touch with the mueller family he has been constituents with joe donnelly talked with the family through the entire episode. Both senators working with the white house and families discussed these special Operations Forces<\/a> possibilities. They were involved and i know senator mccain as he told me this personally was in favor of these rescue missions. This particular one where they didnt find them sometimes the intelligence doesnt work out and in other cases people are tipped off and odd set of circumstances. Its very high risk. The president has been dedicated. We saw this and one of the interesting things when Kayla Mueller<\/a>s name was first put out two weeks ago accidentally by Dennis Mcdonough<\/a> on a sunday morning talk show and there was a great deal of worry that would cause damage for her and all of the networks walked that back to keep it away. It was indicative that the president of the United States<\/a> and staff had her mind at the tip of their thoughts and were able to reveal that. Well actually reminds me of how how much the Reagan White House<\/a> focused on the hostages in beirut. I think the bigger thing a continual problem for the commander in chief. Theres been some confusion, clearly this letter now shows us what was in the mueller familys mind because she says im being treated well and im actually getting food. Ive gained weight. She suggests that she doesnt want any extraordinary efforts to find her. So that feeds into the whole question of whether they didnt want the rescue mission they denied that yesterday. I dont know if theres anything we know about that. I think that there are various people who have been directly in touch with the mueller family through the different stages. I know some of them and cant it would be remiss for me to reveal what they said. That said i think the mueller family, from what i know has been incredibly resilient through this process and had confidence at the end of the day that the various pieces of this effort to get her out would succeed and they were incredibly resilient. This is a broader example for the whole country. This kind of practice that weve seen, this horrific practice is not going away. We will have other americans kidnapped and held for ransom and killed. We need to talk about how we begin dealing with this not in perhaps a systemic way is probably the wrong word but this is the tip of the iceberg of what may be coming given our experiences with isis. I think the mueller family gave an incredible strength and confidence through this we should learn lessons from. Coming up next more power as the president prepares to ask congress to authorize the war already against isis. But for how long . Dont speak, obamas message i dont want to be coy, the Prime Minister<\/a> and i have a real difference around iran sanctions. O smell like i sweat money. I want to smell the way champagne tastes. I love champagne. Infuse your laundry with. Up to 12 weeks of luxurious longlasting scents. Unstopables in wash scent booster. I want my foyer to smell more like a foyer. I want his bedroom to smell like hes away at boarding school. Surround yourself with up to 6 hours of luxurious, longlasting scents. Introducing new unstopables air refresher. Hey, girl. Is it crazy that your soccer trophy is talking to you right now . It kinda is. Its as crazy as you not rolling over your old 401k. Cue the horns. Just harness the confidence it took you to win me and call td ameritrades rollover consultants. Theyll help with the hassle by guiding you through the whole process step by step. And theyll even call your old provider. Its easy. Even she could do it. Whatever, janet. For all the confidence you need td ameritrade. You got this. Americans drink 48 billion bottles of water every year. 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. And we continue on the breaking news talking about isis. Of course the death of Kayla Mueller<\/a>. Efforts for congressional military authorization against isis are taking on a urgency with her death. The white house tells nbc news that negotiations are continuing between the white house and members of congress on a proposed authorization to use force. Months after air strikes against isis first began. Im joined by ambassador nicholas burns, former a. M. Bass do to nato and greece and joe scarborough, host of morning joe. How important is it that this updated authorization be passed and there be some agreement . We know democrats and republicans are on opposite sides of the strength and what it should entail as far as boots on the ground. Congress needs to speak out and need to reauthorize this. The fact that of course in the fall they abandoned ship got out of town started campaigning before talking about what many consider to be the most dangerous threat to the United States<\/a> since september 11th certainly was a problem. There is youre right, theres a great distance between what many on the right and many on the left want to do. Lindsey graham is talking about the possibility of 10,000 boots on the ground. John mccain obviously wants to take a very aggressive stance. If we thought what happened in march of 2003 was a difficult undertaking, that seems fairly simple compared to what american troops would be headed into if in fact they did go back to iraq. And with so many urgent Foreign Policy<\/a> considerations right now, nick burns, is this the right time to have a dustup with our closest middle ally israel, about the president saying yesterday its not protocol to have a foreign leader coming in asking to is a dress congress being invited to address congress two weeks before an election without any notification to the state department or white house. In fact, the state department indicating that the secretary of state was misled and netanyahu has said hes not backing down. Im not sure its the president who chose this argument. It was netanyahu who caused it. I would look at this from two perspectives, first from an american perspective. Why would we want to interfere with the israeli elections that happen two weeks after the Prime Minister<\/a>s speech to congress. Were effectively telling the labor party, friends of the United States<\/a> that her competitor will have priority and place in the capital of the United States<\/a>. I dont think its wise for the Prime Minister<\/a> and his ambassador in washington to pick this fight with the administration despite the open differences between president obama and Prime Minister<\/a> netanyahu. Were very Close Friends<\/a> with israel. As this iran issue heads towards march 24th the deadline for an agreement, framework of an agreement, were going to need to be unified in some respects with israel. Its unwise on both fronts. I thought with all of the criticism, including from people like Abraham Foxman<\/a> in the United States<\/a> that netanyahu should bail out, but he indicated hes going to show up and give that speech. Joe biden and others say they are not going to show up and these are strong supporters of israel and strong supporters of apec and israel in every other instance. Joe, i wanted to play the president s News Conference<\/a> with Angela Merkel<\/a> when he took a shot at the israeli Prime Minister<\/a> verbally. As much as i love ang la if she was two weeks away from an election, she probably would not have received an invitation to the white house. And i suspect she wouldnt have asked for one. So you know the and netanyahu tweet, im determined to speak before congress to stop iran. Re retweet if i have your support. I think the fallout is actually a bit going to be a bit rougher for john boehner and the republicans in the house than it is even for netanyahu. Obviously hes a political opportunist like any politician two weeks before their election. And he sees this and obviously hes bold and sees this as positive for his campaign. I will tell you that a lot of sources have been telling me that Top Republican<\/a> Foreign Policy<\/a> leaders, that have worked in past administrations have been calling john boehner, have been extraordinarily critical of the speaker offering this invitation. And have suggested strongly that he rescind that invitation that this does breach protocol and that this is a terrible move to make because the next republican president may have to face a Democratic Congress<\/a> doing the same thing. So john boehner is certainly hearing not just from democrats and not just protests from people like joe biden but also some Top Republican<\/a> Foreign Policy<\/a> leaders over the past 20 to 30 years. Let me ask you both finally whether netanyahu is correct to be concerned that this white house is rushing into an agreement, an ill considered agreement with iran one that cannot be adequately verified. Let me ill jump in first and then i will allow myself to be corrected here. Yes, i think Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> and republicans on the hill believe that this president for all of his strengths, he is not such a great negotiator, that hes willing to give up too much to get a deal. And republicans on the hill dont trust this president to negotiate any better than netanyahu or a lot of israelis trust him. Nick burns. Andrea i negotiated as you know for the Bush Administration<\/a> sanctions against iran was involved in that policy. I see president obamas policy in iran as a direct extension of what president george w. Bush was trying to do. I see a unity between the two administrations. So i have to think that some of this criticism of president obama is just simply partisan. The fact is none much us on the outside know what the end game is like. We dont know what exactly the issues are that separate iran and United States<\/a>. But we know iran is very much isolated right now. And i dont think its a sure bet theres going to be an agreement. I see secretary kerry in fact trying to run a very tough negotiation against the iranians and try to leverage them and intimidate them. Frankly, it would be helpful to have unity in the United States<\/a> to back up our negotiators because were amonth away five weeks away from a very important deadline. I hope they are going to be in agreement, but i think this administration will stick to its guns and not allow i think that would be the point republicans would make because of the work of the Bush Administration<\/a>, because of the tough sanctions that were leveled on the iranians. Its the only thing to get them to the table in first place. There is a concern not just among partisans on capitol hill but also other people in Foreign Policy<\/a> community and a lot of editorial boards that this president is has not been as effective in his negotiations with iran and not as tough. I just say that im very proud of the work that the Bush Administration<\/a> did obviously, secretary rice but you have to give president obama his due. The financial sanctions and the eu sanctions that the president pushed in 2010 2011 and 2012 were very significant. I think this is bipartisan success in a way that two administrations have followed essentially the same negotiating strategy. We sanctioned iran and threatened force but tried to negotiate if possible. I give the president a chance. Lets see what he comes up with. I think hell be tough minded. Well have to leave it there but my thanks to both of you. Thanks very much for being with us today. And up next more on the breaking news that american hostage Kayla Mueller<\/a> is dead the 26yearold aid worker has been verifiably killed according to an isis email to her parents. Well be right back. Youre clean. You got that right bam just gotta check your bag. Huh, charmin ultra strong. Youre cleaner than i thought. Charmin ultra strong cleans so much better it meets even his highest standards of clean. With a soft duraclean texture, charmin ultra strong is 4 times stronger. And you can use up to 4x less. Are you good to go hun . Cleaner than ever. Rotorooter approved. Charmin is clogfree or its free. [ female announcer ] we help make secure financial tomorrows a reality for over 19 million people. [ alex ] transamerica helped provide a lifetime of retirement income. So i can focus on what matters most. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. Transamerica. This is the equivalent of the sugar in one regular soda. And this is one soda a day over an average adult lifetime. But theres a better choice. Drink more brita water. Clean, refreshing, brita. Were back with more on our breaking news are the sad news that a senior u. S. Official tells nbc news a photo was the evidence that confirmed Kayla Mueller<\/a>s death to her family. The photo was emailed to the family and appeared to show her dead with trauma injuries. The official says the injuries are not inconsistent with the sort of injuries suffered by an air strike but not necessarily so. It could also be the result of a number of other causes. They also dont know when she died. This comes a day after isis released this new propaganda video featuring john kantly under duress. Ayman mohyeldin joins me with more. On top of all of this a group with all sorts of claims about isis had tweeted earlier and hacked in the newsweek twitter feed which has been been restored. We have a lot going on and other piece is that the uae joined the air strikes today from a base in jordan against isis in syria. This is escalating even as we have this terrible news about the last known american hostage being held by isis. Andrea it really underscores how big of a problem the situation in syria has become. Its on a few different fronts one being isis and two being the humanitarian situation as a result of that and another point to keep in mind is the fact that president Bashar Al Assad<\/a> gave an interview today with the bbc in damascus which he pointed the finger at the International Community<\/a>, very much so for some of the countries who have been backing isis and saying he is still the major conduit through which the International Community<\/a> could combat isis. Theres a lot of various moving pieces in all of this. Obviously today underscored by the revelation that Kayla Mueller<\/a> was killed still the circumstances of her death somewhat mysterious. If you were to believe isis for what they described on friday that it was a result of a Jordanian Air<\/a> strike, it would under underscore how difficult this war has become. What kind of intelligence capabilities they have on the ground . And more importantly, the whereabouts of these hostages for months had been held by isis and other groups inside syria. Certainly a lot of things at play here and certainly a lot of things that need to be addressed on an urgent level by the Obama Administration<\/a> and International Community<\/a> as you mentioned as well United Arab Emirates<\/a> by sending a squadron of fighter jets in the ongoing air strikes. Al assad had given an interview to the bbc and this is one of the extraordinary things he said to the bbc correspondent. So thats legitimate use of force. Of course of course. Theres no bombs its like talking about cooking pots we only have like regular army we have bullets and et cetera. The opposition and civilians have abundant evidence of barrel bombs being used. Its very well documented. Not only through Human Rights Organization<\/a> but User Generated Content<\/a> shows whag believed to be syrian helicopters and war planes, they are the only ones flying over these areas dropping what is visibly seen as barrel bombs and all of that is well documented. We hear that the president was attempting not to admit any specific type of weapons and gave a similar response in deflecting the allegations about the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Regime<\/a> which have also been somewhat documented not only by Human Rights Organization<\/a>s but also by various western intelligence agencies and people on the ground inside syria. In a wide ranging interview, he pretty much defended the actions saying they are not doing anything in violation of International Laws<\/a> and simply fighting a war with all of their tools at their disposal. Ayman, thank you so much. Coming up can same sex couples now get married in alabama . Well the answer depends on where you live in the state. Youre watching Andrea Mitchell<\/a> reports. Only on msnbc. Think the tree we carved our names in is still here . Probably dead. How much fun is this . What . What a beautiful sunset. If you like sunsets. Whether youre sweet or salty. Youll love Nature Valley<\/a> sweet and salty bars. Ugh. Heartburn. Did someone say burn . Try alka seltzer reliefchews. They work just as fast and taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. Mmm. Amazing. Yeah, i get that a lot. Alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. Enjoy the relief. Right now, a Southern State<\/a> is split on samesex marriage with local officials in alabama defying the will of the United States<\/a> Supreme Court<\/a> probate judges are refusing to follow a federal ruling and issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. Justice correspondent Pete Williams<\/a> joins me now. Theres plenty of precedent, especially in alabama, for this kind of defiance of the u. S. Supreme court. Tell me about the decision yesterday to allow samesex marriages to proceed. There were two dissents and thats unusual. I think there really whats happening in alabama is they are defying the federal court order down there. The Supreme Court<\/a> basically stayed out of this fight. But in doing so andrea youre right, they did appear to say, at least the two conservatives said the fight is over base he canally. They said by refusing to grant this request to put a stay on this issue until the Supreme Court<\/a> resolved it in a matter of months, by refusing to do that that shows a lack of respect for the state. Whats the rush they said. And Justice Thomas<\/a> writing for the two dissenters said the court seems to signal that thats what its going to do in june uphold this issue of marriage for same sex couples. You could well say if the court were going to stop marriage in june it would stop now in alabama. If its going to let it go ahead, why would it stop it in alabama . As for roy moore, the chief justice of the Supreme Court<\/a>, he has a strange role in alabama, the administrative head of the courts and sent a memo to probate judges and said the georgia constitution prevents you from doing this. The issue is those issues take an oath to the federal constitution and the advocates for samesex marriage are saying, a federal judge has already given the definitive word on what the federal constitution requires. It requires issuing licenses. The latest development is lawyers from some same sex couples have gone back to the judge and said we want you to hold and issue another ordering one of these judges in Mobile County<\/a> to issue licenses. My guess is a lot of these other counties will fall into line. Pete williams thank you very much. The alabama legal and political decisions. Tad griffin is president of the Human Rights Campaign<\/a> and has been very active of course you and the california cases that originally brought cases to the Supreme Court<\/a> on sim sex marriage on prop 8. Now, what does this tell you. What is your hope Going Forward<\/a> . Look i think what it tells us all, the fair minded american majority has come down on the side of equality here. And have moved on. The real headlines that were coming out of alabama yesterday were hundreds and hundreds of loving committed couples, some who had been together for decades, simply getting that marriage license and being able to marry the person they love having the same protections and rights as their straight peers and straight neighbors. There was certainly a side show. In addition to what pete just said, i think its important, the controversy there is very intentional intentional. Chief justice who also happens to be a conservative politician who is antigay and is attempting to stop gay marriage. But even in that state, he held a rally this weekend and more supporters of Marriage Equality<\/a> turned out than his own supporters. I think its quite clear where the country is headed. Its clear where alabama is headed. And ultimately the chief justice there i believe will be forced to move out of the way. And that state will adhere to the constitution that he and others were sworn to protect. These changes have happened so rapidly. There was some criticism when you all took your case to the court that you were inviting a decision by a court that has been conservative and a lot of 54 rulings and you were going to prevent the marriage of same sex couples but it does seem to be heading in a different direction. I want to ask you about the south and how it changed. You grew up in hope arkansas. You see change happening all across the country, in small towns and big cities. And the reason its happening because every Single Person<\/a> whether they know it or not and today nine out of ten know it that they have someone in their immediate family their Close Friends<\/a> circle colleague at work and even folks like chief judge moore. Were the fellow con greggants in the church pew, once you know us you dont wish special rights on us. Even in alabama, this historic ruling that was written by a federal judge there, was appointed by president george w. Bush. So republicans, democrats, conservatives, liberals truly are coming together around this issue and coming down on the side of freedom an equality and were seeing loving couples and families be able to benefit from that. And briefly, tell me about the peoples brief and how people can tell their stories or join the brief thats being written for the Supreme Court<\/a>. Absolutely if you go to peoples brief. Org, fair minded americans all across the country can join in and sign the brief that has been written by roberta caplin, the attorney who argued successfully the windsor case. And folks all across this country can join edie windsor, so fair minded americans here have the opportunity to join hrcs peoples brief, at peoples brief. Org. Well put that up on the website as well. Thank you very much, chad griffin. Thank you. A month after the paris attacks, what is france doing to root out terrorists . The inside story coming up. Stay with us on Andrea Mitchell<\/a> reports. Only on msnbc. Well, did you know words really can hurt you . What. . Jesse dont go jesse. No im sorry daisy, but im a loner. And a loner gotta be alone. Heee yawww geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. Jesse . 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. Americans drink 48 billion bottles of water every year. 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. Nobody told us to expect it. Intercourse thats painful due to menopausal changes its not likely to go away on its own. So lets do something about it. Premarin vaginal cream can help it provides estrogens to help rebuild vaginal tissue and make intercourse more comfortable. Premarin vaginal cream treats vaginal changes due to menopause and moderatetosevere painful intercourse caused by these changes. Dont use it if youve had unusual bleeding breast or uterine cancer blood clots, liver problems, stroke or heart attack, are allergic to any of its ingredients or think youre pregnant. Side effects may include headache pelvic pain, breast pain vaginal bleeding and vaginitis. Estrogens may increase your chances of getting cancer of the uterus, strokes, blood clots or dementia so use it for the shortest time based on goals and risks. Estrogen should not be used to prevent Heart Disease<\/a> heart attack, stroke or dementia. Ask your doctor about premarin vaginal cream. You just got a big bump in miles. So this is a great opportunity for an upgrade. Sound good . Great. Because youre not you youre a whole airline. And its not a ticket youre upgrading its your entire operations, from domestic to international. Which means you need help from a whole team of advisors. From workforce strategies to Tech Solutions<\/a> and a thousand other things. So you call pwc. The right people to get the extraordinary done. The White House Briefing<\/a> with josh earnest is supposed to start soon and we would expect to hear comments on the death of Kayla Mueller<\/a>. In boston, a crisis there. The Massachusetts National<\/a> guard has been akty vated to help the state dig out from another snowstorm. Train service has been crippled and no decisions have been made on when that will be restored. Service is suspended while work crews clear the snow and inspect damage. A short time ago we heard from Governor Charlie Baker<\/a> on his new action plan. 500 National Guard<\/a> troops were called up last night. 200 will deploy and 50 teams of four men and women in humvees and assist cities and towns in digging out hydrants and other critical assets. Dylan dreyer has the latest from boston. Reporter andrea, the snow has finally stopped falling here in boston. What a relief considering this is the top five biggest snowstorm to hit in february and the most snow we ever received in a 30day period. We picked up 68. 4 inches. The big question where do you put it all . The mounds can only go so high. Even folks trying to shovel themselves out can only lift the shovel so high. The plan is now to load up as much as of the snow as they can into dump trucks and into these dumpsters and eventually which is simply that the thoughts and prayers of everybody at the white house are with the mueller family at this time. That includes, kaylas parents, carl and Marshall Mueller<\/a> and brother eric and his family and all of those who worked with kayla in her all too short life. Shes somebody who dedicated her life to serving others. And not just serving other people but serving those who were in crisis situations who faced dire circumstances and were relying on the generosity and kindness of fellow human beings to try to meet their needs. Kayla was a young woman willing to put herself in harms way to try to offer that relief. She saw this as a way to honor the god she worshipped. And i will indicate that i was personally moved by her comments that she saw god in the eyes of people who were dealing with terrible crisis. That is a particularly profound wise statement from such a young woman. But i think it does go to the character and generosity of the spirit that she embodied. Over the weekend kaylas parents received a private message from her isil captors with Additional Information<\/a> about her death. That information was shared with the Intelligence Community<\/a>. They conducted a review and analysis and after that analysis was completed, they concluded that kayla has in fact died. And the information they reviewed did not allow them to arrive at the conclusion about her precise cause of death. But it did allow them to conclude that she had in fact died. Was there any information they were able to glean about when she died . It is thats a good question. I do not believe they were able to arrive at any conclusion about the timing precise timing of her death. Do you know if they were able to rule out whether she was killed in a Jordanian Air<\/a> strike on friday which is what Islamic State<\/a> has claimed . Ive seen those claims. Again, the Intelligence Community<\/a> did not have a specific assessments about the cause of death. There are some things that i can share with you about this air strike that i know that isil has referenced. This is something that military officials have indicated as well. The air strike that was carried out by the royal Jordanian Air<\/a> force on february 6th was against an isil weapons compound that that group maintained near raqqa, syria. This was a facility that was struck on previous occasions and not unusual for targets like this to be hit more than once. In previous strikes this facility had been damaged but its not unusual for strikes like this to be carried out, once again. The information that we have is that we have this information because this air strike was coordinated with the United States<\/a> military. And the information that we have is that theres no evidence of civilians in the target area prior to the Coalition Strike<\/a> taking place. And that certainly would call into question the claims made by isil. What is not possible to call into question is that isil regardless of her cause of death, is responsible for it. This is after all the Organization Holding<\/a> her against her will. That means they are responsible for her safety and well being and they are therefore responsible for her death. The president has held up the Counterterrorism Campaign<\/a> in yemen as a model for what hes trying to do with Islamic State<\/a>. Today u. S. Officials have said they are closing the embassy there. Can you realistically hold that as the model for what youre trying to do in yemen given the problems happening with the government with rebels taking over the capitol and having to close the american embassy. At this point i dont have an update on the status of the embassy. We have indicated for a number of weeks now that we have been closely monitoring the security situation on the ground in sanaa and throughout yemen. With an eye towards taking necessary steps to protect the safety and security of american personnel in yemen. In recent weeks, there have been some personnel that have been drawn down from the facility in sanaa. Because of concerns about their safety and security. But for a status update about the facility itself im referring to the state department. If theres an announcement to make about a change in that facility status it will come from the state department. Thats josh earnest, also talking about the fact that they are not doing con sul ar services in yemen, talking about the fact that the evidence was provided to Kayla Mueller<\/a>s family authenticated by Intelligence Services<\/a> and cannot say whether or not the trauma she experienced in those pictures came from a Coalition Air<\/a> strike but that they did not think that air strikes were in that area. On the same subject, i sat down with Frances Justice<\/a> minister to talk about the global fight against terrorism one month after the Mass Shootings<\/a> in paris that killed 17 people. Thank you very much for being with us today. What is the meetings that you had with the attorney general, what is the challenge for the United States<\/a> and for france against this common enemy of terrorism . First it was a pleasure for me once more and honor to meet again with attorney general eric holder because last time it was in paris. We are professional and political relationship that remains very strong. Both of our country have been striken and were willing to fight together. Were increasing operation between our both countries and we know that the challenge is first to preserve our Citizen Security<\/a> and at the same time not to sacrifice democracy. That means to keep on protecting individual liberties. How can the french people be sure that paris will not be struck again by the kind of terrorists who hit Charlie Hebdo<\/a> and the supermarket . No one can be sure but we work very hard in order to prevent and to forbid this kind of attack again. So we develop our to be able to survey people to prevent this kind of attacks and also to avoid a lot of people to be receptive to this kind of address, this kind of speeches and to attack their own people their own citizen. What is the appeal of a group like the Islamic State<\/a> or isis to these young muslim youth in some of these areas outside paris, for instance . Why dont they feel more identity with france than with this terrorist groups . We make a difference between muslims and people who are radicalized. And we observe that 25 of these people who go to make jihad and to attack 25 of them are new convert. That means its not really a question of religion. We have to tell again all people, whatever they are, muslim Jews Catholic<\/a> or any other kind, even none we have to explain their country is france and they have to organize a community destiny. France was founded and we learned from you on these principles of ininclusion and enlightenment. So you have to guard against prejudice against muslims. Theres also as you point out, the rise of feelings against jewish people and antisemitism, people leaving france and going elsewhere, going to israel. Is that of concern . In france in the past we have been able to live together. Sometimes we can fight but we must be concerned that what is more important is the way way we organize together for us and for the children who are growing at the present time. So muslim jews and all kind of people we are able to live together in france because the French Mission<\/a> organized itself in one city you have a french person french citizen, and you will take part of constructing the nation. That does it for this edition of Andrea Mitchell<\/a> reports. Tomorrow on the show Madeleine Albright<\/a> and former senior adviser, david axelrod. Follow us online and on twitter. Ronan farrow daily is here next. Thanks to angies list now it is. Weve made hiring anyone from a handyman to a dog walker as simple as a few clicks. Buy their services directly at angieslist. Com no more calling around. No more hassles. Start shopping from a list of toprated providers today. Angies list is revolutionizing local service again. Visit angieslist. Com today. What . Yoplait fridge pack. Eight cups, endless snack possibilities. Available at walmart. Push your enterprise and you can move the world. But to get from the old way to the new youll need the right it infrastructure. From a partner who knows how to make your enterprise more agile, borderless and secure. Hp helps business move on all the possibilities of today. And stay ready for everything that is still to come. It is 1 00 p. M. Here in washington, d. C. Where the white house confirmed upsetting news this morning, the death of the american aid worker Kayla Mueller<\/a>, her family also confirmed their loss releasing a final letter they received from her passed on through former hostages held alongside her. She said i have been shown in darkness, light. Have learned that even in prison one can be free. Later, i have a lot of fight left inside me. Im not breaking down. I will not give in no matter how long it takes. Her family says they were sent evidence of kaylas death, a photograph of their daughters face. Our hearts are breaking for our only daughter but we will continue on in peace, dignity and love for her. Following this from istanbul richard engel. Have we learned any other facts . Reporter Andrea Mitchell<\/a> reported a short while ago that according to u. S. Officials there has been some photographic evidence provided to the family and the family is working in close coordination with u. S. Officials. 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