>> is there a deadline sir? we have our own sets of deadline. and cutting ties. macy's and donald trump end their relationship amid the backlash over his controversial comments on mexico. good day to you. i'm peter alexander here in washington where we are of course following that breaking news on a major step in the renewed relationship between the united states and cuba. my colleague, andrea mitchell the host of this show live in vienna again today covering the iran nuclear talks. andrea, we heard from the president on cuba in the last hour. i want to get you to bring us up to speed on the latest developments even as we just saw you peppering the secretary of state with some questions just a matter of moments ago. >> reporter: it's been such a big deal and such a big announcement and so long awaited, peter so, we had the president speaking in the rose garden followed by secretary kerry here. these were secret negotiations undertaken and finally announced on december 17th i believe, but it has taken all these months to iron out the details. this is what secretary kerry had to say about thiz triphis trip to havana to raise the stars and stripes. >> this transition this moment of history, is taking place because president obama made a personal personal, fundamental decision to change a policy that didn't work and that had been in place not working for far too long. i believe that's leadership, and i appreciate that leadership. >> reporter: and secretary kerry was referencing the change in policy that was managed by the deputy national security adviser ben rhodes who joins me today from the white house. ben, take us behind the scenes as the president wrote a letter to raul castro we understand, from that letter that was delivered in havana today that the cubans will open their embassy in washington on monday july 20th. i believe that's a monday. monday or tuesday, july 20th. i don't have the calendar in front of me. when will the american embassy be opened in havana? >> well, andrea we'd expect that the american embassy will be opened for the first time in over 54 years sometime shortly after the cubans open their embassy here on the 20th. we'll do that around secretary kerry's travel schedule but it certainly be an historic day when he raises the stars and stripes over an american embassy in havana for the first time since 1961. >> reporter: ben involved in all those secret negotiations. what was the key moment when you knew from talks in canada talks at the vatican with pope francis in the beginning? when did you know that this would come together? >> well, andrea we had dozens and dozens of hours of secret talks with the cubans in 2013 and 2014. we began focusing on the issues of prisoners, getting alan gross released from cuba getting a u.s. intelligence asset released. they had individuals, three in the united states, they wanted released. we began to broaden discussions in spring and summer of 2014 to bring in the broader relationship. that's what led to the cubans releasing a number of political prisoners that we were interested in seeing released but then we talked about moving forward with a broader normalization of relations with the center piece of that effort being the establishment of diplomatic relations. over the summer i think that all came together. the president's made that decision. the vatican got behind it. and on december 17th the president went out and signaled we were moving in this new direction. >> the president and secretary kerry both said there were still disagreements. how do you bridge those gaps especially with critics among the 2016 republican candidates and certainly in congress all calling you out on this today? >> well, andrea first of all, this approach hasn't worked for over 50 years. we have not seen the advance pt of human rights in cuba because of our policy of isolation. if anything, it was taking us out of the conversation in cuba. the fact is having an embassy will allow us to have diplomats who can travel across the island engage the cuban people civil society, entrepreneurs across the island. this is supported overwhelm ingly by the cuban people who are the ones we're aiming to help here. i think congress should listen to the cuban people who very much want this american engagement and frankly traditional supporters of the republican party in the united states like the chamber of commerce have been strong supporters of this approach. so we see a growing support for this and a cuban-american community and across american society. >> and one thing that you said a couple of days ago in an interview at the aspen ideas festival was fascinating to me that raul castro knew that president obama was going to treat him with respect when president obama took the initiative to shake hands, to reach out to him at nelson mandela's funeral. can you share that moment? >> that's right, andrea. there have been lots of talks with the cubans over many administrations that didn't get anywhere and moving forward with things like the release of prisoners and moving forward with a step to reopen embassies, which, again, is not a step frankly that the cubans had wanted to take in the past because they know the united states supports the promotion of human rights, for instance. we reached an impasse in our talks but when the president went to nelson mandela's funeral, he saw raul castro on the dais, he shook his hand. it indicated the fact we will have differences but we can engage the cuban government because we think that's the best way to move forward, best way to help the cuban people as well. i think that set a tone that then permeated our own discussions and helped lead to the broadening i talked about where we weren't just talking about our own prisoners but talking about fundamentally changing the relationship. >> and switching to the reason why we are in vienna for quite a long time an extension on the talks with iran zarif, the foreign minister of iran said today there are no deadlines. secretary kerry said we have our own sense of deadlines. this is not open-ended but can you give us some insight as to whether you think there will be a deal? despite criticism from some of your former colleagues and people in both administrations that the u.s. is making too many concessions? >> well, first of all, andrea we think that these negotiations are the right time to make that deal, and here's the reason why. we've been at this for a year and a half and we know what the deal looks like. it's the framework that was reached that meets our bottom lines of cutting off iran's pathway to a nuclear weapon and having a strong verification regime regime. so there's not much more technical work that needs to be done. it's ultimately a political decision that the iranians need to make to embrace that luzon framework and implement it through an agreement. what we would say to our former colleagues, for instance, is that the bottom lines they laid out are very much consistent with what we had there and what we're negotiating at the table with the iranians. we are not moving off of those bottom lines because the president is not focused on getting any deal. he's only going to sign a good deal. >> ben rhodes thank you very much. congratulations to you. this is a personal moment for you as well. thanks, ben. >> thanks andrea. it's a great day. thank you. >> peter, back to you in washington. you have a lot more of the day's political news including about cuba, of course. >> yeah that's right. stay with us. of course some fascinating details from behind the scenes with ben rode as we learn more about this relationship between the u.s. and cuba specifically between the president and raul castro. to bring into this conversation we have chuck todd, our nbc political director. of course he is the moderator of "meet the press." you heard some of what ben said. i want to show you some of what marco rubio had to say about this embassy announcement. he said "i intend to pose the confirmation of an ambassador to cuba until these issues are addressed. it is time for our unilateral concessions to this odious regime to end." clearly, this is going to be a significant campaign sh shoe as we head into 2016. as we know on your broadcast it's all about florida, florida, florida, one of the many states keeping a close eye on this. how does this become a campaign issue? >> peter, if there wasn't a florida candidate in the race -- and we have two, actually if you count huckabee's residency, you could claim three -- but jeb bush and marco rubio true florida politicians. if there wasn't a candidate, i don't think cuba would be a big issue in 2016. but because of their presence and the likelihood there's probably a greater than 75% chance a floridian will be on the tick net some form or another, that it becomes an issue, at least rhetorically. and i think it's going to divide inside the republican party. remember there's basically a very defiant wing of the party on this and it's mostly florida republicans plus, you know some of the more hawkish votes for lindsey graham and john mccain pap lot of other republicans are okay with this. maybe they don't like the way the president went about it but they're okay with the final decision. so i actually think this could be a live debate inside the republican party. rand paul and marco rubio on a debate stage, cuba policy go. and you will see two very different views on how to tackle cuba. >> jeb bush, of course weighing in on this as well. here's part of his statement. he says, "as americans prepare to celebrate the anniversary of our freedom from tyranny and commit anew to the democratic principles on which our nation with was founded, it is no small irony that president obama prepares to open an embassy in havana, further legitimizing" what he describes as the brutal castro regime. andrea, we also saw hillary clinton enter the cuba conversation. she stweettweeted this morning, "new u.s. embassy in havana helps engage cuban people and build on efforts to support positive change. good step for u.s. and cuban people." you've covered her for quite some time. is this in line with the positions she had taken as a senator then as a cabinet member and even as a first lady? >> reporter: as a cabinet member, she was certainly more on board with president obama's desire to open and engage with cuba not that she took the initiative herself but she was on board with the policy but not as a senator or first lady. it was bill clinton in 1996 right before his re-election who actually signed the legislation that codified the embargo and made it impossible by executive order to do fundamental change. they can around the edges and that's what barack obama has done, but they are stuck with that embargo until a different congress reverses that. >> chuck i want to pick and choose other hot tomics we're focused on in politics right now, perhaps most notably donald trump right now this morning, macy's terminated its relationship with him. the donald defiantly firing back at them as well as nbc, we should say, the parent company of msnbc, as well as univision. sometimes good politics makes bad business. but it's clear that he's focused on politics and not business right now. >> no, there's no doubt, because this has not been a good two weeks for trump, inc. trump enterprises, whatever you want to describe all things having to do with donald trump and his brand name if you will. i mean this is now the third business relationship that has broken off because of the rhetoric he's using on the campaign trail. that was always the risk here. you know, he's lucky this didn't happen three years ago when he went down the birther -- when he went into birtherism there for a long period of time. it really hits him now, what he's been saying about hispanics. so i just wonder if there are people in trump world that make a living off of these other enterprises, if they're starting to wring their hands about his decision to get into this presidential race, because it's certainly hurting his -- it's certainly hurting his brand name and image. >> yet it's fueling his campaign in iowa new numbers from quinnipiac showing he's tied with ben carson in second place. you right in "first read" today, chuck, about competing bracket, some candidates focused on iowa others focused on new hampshire, maybe a rubio and a rand paul that could cross between the two. explain that to us and sort of where this plays into the calculus for these candidates. >> look you have 14 candidates and they all have either iowa or new hampshire that their heads as the place they're going to break out. and about half of the field sees iowa in that category. more the conservative candidates view that. and the more establishment or moderate candidates all view new hampshire has the place they think they're going to break out. so we certainly have these two brackets and they're splitting up nicely. only a couple of them see themselves trying to play in both state, rand paul probably the most prominent and a marco rubio rubio, but new hampshire is nothing to rubio if he doesn't succeed in iowa. i would say this -- all the campaigns need to understand -- and i think viewers out there need to understand -- who is supporting trump. whether you believe trump has staying power or not, history says he doesn't. but the people that he is galvanizing, that he is attracting, these are people that are fed up with traditional politics, they're conservatives, they're upset. they feel like there's been too much acquiescence by the powers that be in washington. and who those people go to if you assume trump flames out, where do they go? that's going to make or break i think a candidate in iowa. is it walker? is it ted cruz? is it huckabee? all of whom would like to share some of that i'm angry at the elite type of messaging that trump right now is succeeding at. >> who needs your ncaa march madness when you have republican madness all summer long? >> there you go. >> andrea before we let you go hillary clinton, thousands of new e-mails released by the state department. apparently no smoking gun as it's described bay lot of people right now. what are the taketake-aways? >> what went viral was all the e-mail where is she's having trouble working her fax machine. that was intriguing to a lot of people. there's a lot of personal stuff telling john podesta, now her campaign chairman he would wear socks to keep him warm. you know she's asking and soliciting advice from sid blumenthal her former aide and adviser who did not get a job at the state department because the white house said absolutely no because he'd been involved they thought, in a lot of rumormongering about candidate barack obama. so he was parked at the clinton foundation for $10,000 a month. but she did keep soliciting advice from him. so there's a lot of stuff but no smoking gun, and it does beg the question why the special committee into benghazi is getting all this stuff, because none of it seems relevant to that. by the way announcing ar $45 million haul in terms of primary money she's raised as well. andrea thanks. chuck, thank you. some questions and concerns in south carolina today. another significant headline another church fire there. you may have heard about it. it's being investigated as possible arson. some new details. we have those next. sensitive bladder? 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>> well, one of the messages we sent in that letter was that there's no rush here, that we think there is more pressure on the iranians actually because they want to get out of sanctions and the administration ought to stay at the table until they get an agreement that meets the objective that president obama has set, which is a good agreement and one of the things we tried to do in our letter was set some of the four or five key elements of what we thought a good agreement in order for something to qualify as arguably good agreement you had to at least meet these four or five things we set out in our paper. of the administration has been if you can deal with iran's nuclear possibilities for 10 or 15 years, you've got the opportunity to reengage them in the west and to see if there can be a different kind of behavior a different kind of regime. what's wrong with that argument? >> well it's a good argument. the question is whether it turns out to be true. and there is a counterargument that people are concerned that the supreme leader has made opposition to the united states such a central tenet of his rule that there's a concern that in some sense that if there is a nuclear agreement that is reached in order to maintain balance within his own political system, he actually may give more weight and more support to those elements identified with the qods force that have been so disruptive in iraq and syria and yemen. so the jury is out about that but in any event, it's a 10- or 15-year process wndand one of the things the administration needs to do is deal with the reality of today, which is an iran that i means to be seeking hegemony and has called a great deal of rightful concern on the part of traditional american friends and allies in the region. >> the head of the u.n. nuclear agency with the director general went to tehran today to try to get answers from president rouhani as to whether their inspectors would have access to suspicious sites or military sites. is that kind of access a red line for you? >> yes. if you look at the paper we all signed, two of the five eschews really dealt with this issue of verification. one was to say that the inspection and verification regime has to be such and structured in such a way that the iaea can have effective and prompt access anywhere in the country where they feel they need to go in order to exercise their responsibilities for ensuring compliance with the agreement. and that would include sites of the military and of the qods force. >> and, steve, very briefly, what about the opening to cuba today? >> well, you know, this has been an issue that has been for some controversy. i think a number of people wish there had been more that the cuban government had given in terms of respect for human rights, access throughout the country, letting political prisoners free a feeling that maybe we had not shown the kind of solidarity with those people within cuba that have been fighting for cuba's freedom at great cost. and i would hope that the administration will pursue those issues in this new framework. so it's been controversial. the administration is making a judgment about how to open that regime over the long term. you know, again, we'll see -- time will tell. >> thank you very much steve hadley. in a few minutes we'll hear from the family of one of three americans that we know of at least currently being imprisoned in iran. for now, back to peter alexander in washington. peter? >> all right andrea. thanks so much. coming up next right here we'll take you live to greeley, south carolina, for the latest on that investigation into another church fire a church fire that took place there. benny's the oldest dog in the shelter. he needed help all day so i adopted him. when my back pain flared up, we both felt it. i tried tylenol but it was 6 pills a day. with aleve it's just two pills, all day. now i'm back! aleve. all day strong. start the interview with a firm handshake. ay,no! don't do that! try head & shoulders instant relief. it cools on contact, and also keeps you 100% flake free. try head & shoulders instant relief. for cooling relief in a snap. mmmm yoplait hello, everybody. milk cow here with an important announcement about how yoplait original now has 25% less of the sugar. less sugar?? yes. but don't worry it still tastes good. oh that is great news, milk cow. enjoy! i will. mmmmmmmm! it tastes good! i know. yoplait! investigators today are trying to determine what caused this, a predominantly black church in greeleyville south carolina burning down last night. all that remains are the mt. zion ama church building is a set of brick walls. it's the same church that was forced to rebuild two decades ago after being torched by the ku klux klan. the mayor of greeleyville said seeing the church in flames again is stirring up old memories. >> to ride up there last night and see the church in flames again, it just -- it gives you an ill feeling. we don't know what happened. continue to pray for greeleyville, for the church and we'll get through this. we'll get through this. >> nbc's sarah dollof is joining us from greeleyville south carolina. any idea what may have caused this fire. >> reporter: good afternoon, peter. preliminary results reveal this probably was not an arson. now, that has not been confirmed openly by authorities, and regardless of how the fire started it is a devastating loss to its congregation who was forced to stand by helplessly as it burned for more than two hours last night. let's show you what is left this afternoon. the brick wall is still standing but inside completely gutted by fire. it cooled off enough this morning to allow atf agents to take dogs inside. they also had a ladder truck up so they could get an aerial view of the destruction. all of these tools that they hope will help them determine exactly how this started. we've been talking to people who have been coming here to see the church now that it's daylight to take photos, a lot of us telling us they were praying it was caused by nature and not by humans. the possibility of a repeat of that racially motivated arson of 1995 almost too much to bear for some people. back to you. >> all right. sarah. thank you so much. mt. zion ame is the eighth church destroyed by fire in the last few weeks. officials confirm at least two of those fires were intentionally set. joining us now from montgomery alabama, is richard cohen, president of the southern poverty law center. mr. cohen, thank you for your time. again, we don't know if this fire was intentionally set, but it would be horrible given its history. >> you can't jump to my conclusions too early. owner, you can't dismiss the possibility that these fires are in retaliation for, you know, taking down the confederate flag. the white supremacist world is really abuzz about it. you know somebody who is a board member of the council of concerned citizens, that's the group that radicalized the charleston shooter, has talked about taking the confederate flags down as the beginning of a cultural genocide. so i think there's a lot of anger out there and we shouldn't dismiss the possibility that some of it is directed at burning these churches. >> talk about that anger and chatter as we would describe it in the intelligence community. this is effectively domestic terrorism when it comes to hate groups in this country. what have you heard and how have things changed in the course of the last several weeks since that awful shooting took place at the emmanuel ame church in charleston? >> there are some people who are unapologetic about their racist rhetoric. that's including the council of conservative citizens. we've seen other hate groups talking about how taking down the confederate flag is radicalizing ordinary southerners. we've seen people post about the confederate flag and end their posting with something that says rojoa, a white supremacist phrase for racial holy war. we're seeing a lot of this kind of chatter. i think it's a disturbing thing. >> how big is that community? i think so many people were startled to see those awful images of the young man who was responsible for that terrible shooting in charleston, and i think a lot of people thought that while those communities existed they were so small and so remote in this country, and now there's great fear that they are growing somehow again. how big are those white supremacist and hate group communities in this country? >> well i don't want to overstate the threat but we know that there are at least 300,000 people who have registered to post racist messages on one of the most prominent hate sites. and, you know, that's just the people who have registered to post messages. quite frankly, millions of people troll the white supremacist net, troll that world, and unfortunately a few of them like the charleston shooter become radicalized as a result. >> as we wait for more details about what happened at that black church in greeleyville, we hope we will not see headlines like this one again. mr. cohen, we appreciate your time. thanks so much. >> thank you. the markets in new york are up today despite the budget debt crisis in greece. coming up what is next for the eurozone's economy? 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>> reporter: thanks, peter. relatives of americans who are prisoners in iran are here in vienna this week. they're hoping a breakthrough here might help get their family members home. president obama was asked about that just yesterday. >> this is something that we continue to push hard on irrespective of the nuclear deal. it's a top priority for us to make sure that our people are treated fairly. there's no lessening of the sense of urgency. so when i talk to the families, we remind them of the fact that that is a mission that will continue and has been worked on consistently throughout their captivity. >> and earlier this week i talked to the brother of jason rezian, the "washington post" correspondent who has been in a tehran jail for 11 months. and in vienna sara and her husband. her brother, a former marine went to visit his ailing grandmother in iran four years ago. he's been in jail here almost the entire time in tehran and this michigan family is desperate. what is your message to the iranians, some of the top iranians from the foreign minister to president rouhani's brother right now here in vienna? >> obviously for us as a family we're struggling. and we've gone through four years of ambiguity. we've had very little communication, if any, from iranian officials. we've written letters appealing that amir is innocent and this is a mistake. and we hope that this gets to the ears of the officials that are here that can go back and help us. time is not on our side. my father was diagnosed with cancer while my brother was in prison, and amir had no knowledge of this and now he has suffered two strokes. the doctors actually wrote an appeal for the officials here as well, which we delivered through the state department while we were in vienna. but we shouldn't have to come to vienna to have our voice heard. but, you know, sadly because we've been struggling with no answers we really want answers and we need this to be resolved. >> what is the state department telling you? >> >>. >> they're reassuring us they're going to deliver letter to press the sense of urgency about our father's health and to appeal for the fact amir has been there going on four years. he's now the longest held american citizen imprisoned there, and he back in 2012 was actually sentenced to death for charges of spying. and those actually were dropped. now his charge is called cooperating a hostile country and so that is confusing to us and we asked for answers on how they've obtained that charge. we haven't had any explanation. the only thing we can speculate is that they're holding retroactively against him that he served the u.s. military. >> as a family we have a respect for iran and our message is clear, that we have no political background no political affiliation, and our hope is that in this month of mercy, ramadan, where iranians celebrate, that they release amir home to his family. this is a big concern for us is that he's been there a long time. his case was stalled internally and we'd like to have the executive branch of the iranian government, the supreme leader directly involved themselves to show mercy and release amir, bring him home. >> and peter, that is a poignant appeal. we'll have a lot more from vienna and the iran nuclear talks tomorrow. thanks so much. >> all right, andrea. thanks for your reporting. we will see you again tomorrow. up next, the american women are one win away from taking home the world cup in vancouver. what's it going to take? a former champion joins us next. ♪ [music] ♪ jackie's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today her doctor has her on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. two streetlights. the only difference: that little blue thingy. you see it? that's a sensor. using ge software, the light can react to its environment- getting brighter only when it's needed. in a night it saves a little energy. but, in a year it saves a lot. and the other street? it's been burning energy all night. for frank. frank's a cat. now, two things that are exactly the same have never been more different. ge software. get connected. get insights. get optimized. why do i take metamucil everyday? because it helps me skip the bad stuff. i'm good. that's what i like to call the meta effect. 4-in-1 multi-health metamucil is clinically proven to help you feel less hungry between meals. experience the meta effect with our multi-health wellness line. yoplait greek 100. the protein-packed need something filling, taste bud loving, deliciously fruity, grab-and-go, take on the world with 100 calories, snack. yoplait greek 100. there are hundreds of reasons to snack on it. by far the best segment of the day, team usa heading to the world cup final, the u.s. women's team defeating the top-ranked germans 2-0 in last night's semifinal match. and what fans are calling their gutsiest and most exciting performance of the tournament. the first score of the match came in the second half courtesy of a penalty kick from the foot of captain carli lloyd. and the closer kelly o'hara coming off the bench to score her first goal ever in an emotional international finish. looking to play for the championship sunday in vancouver. the world will be watching. among those is the young woman joining us on the phone right now, julie fouty, the espn analyst and champion with team usa the last time they took home the trophy in 1999. julie, thanks for talking to us. i appreciate your time. it's hard to imagine it's been 16 years since the u.s. last won that championship, your team with the likes of chastain and hamm and scurry. what's unique as you witness this team's run to the championship? >> well what's unique peter, is the first part of this tournament we kept wondering, okay, this is a team we know with a ton of talent but they just hadn't been putting it together yet offensively on the field. they'd been riding a really good defense. and so it was so nice to see against the number-one team in the world last night, germany, and a team who also has two world cup titles that they were able to put together. they played great soccer. they had everything not just the defensive side, the offensive side. and you finally for the first time saw how much potential this u.s. team has. it was great to watch. >> talk about some of the great moments, carli lloyd capitalizing on the penalty kick just moments after the germans missed a kick of their own. lloyd also with a big assist to help them score, the u.s. score the second goal. talk about carlyi lloyd, who has really become now a much more familiar name to so many americans that are picking up on team usa. >> yeah. and carli lloyd is the captain who always it has seemed over the course of last decade really has come up big in huge moments. i mean, guy back to the 2008 olympics. i go back to the 2012 olympics. these are the goals that carli lloyd scores. she's winning olympic gold medals. and now to see her do it at this stage in a world cup when they needed it the most, you know germany had just missed a penalty kick prior to that and car carli stepped up and had the chance to put them ahead. it's wonderful to see. there's only one player left on that team who has a world cup title and you know the likes of abby wambach, who has every accolade on her resume wants a world cup title. >> as we look ahead to the championship game on sunday let's talk about the game to be played later today, england versus japan. this potentially provides the u.s. an opportunity to go up against the japanese, the same team that beat the americans four year ago. you're not in ha locker room as it were right now, but do these athletes want to play the japanese again? >> oh yeah. oh, yeah. absolutely. as a player and especially four years ago, peter, they lost in a way that was just gut wrenching, the u.s. did, because they were up twice against japan four years ago. japan comes back and then wins it on penalty kicks, and that's something as a player in talking to these guys the last four years, it just eats as you and burns at you. i think even though that's the harder matchup for the united states, i this i they absolutely want japan in the final on sunday. >> we want japan. your best memory is there one that 16 years later is still sered in your mind from that day? >> oh gosh. i can't even remember yesterday, peter. 16 years ago. i think just standing on top of that podium with the confetti coming down 90,000 people in the rose bowl and really all the hard work you put in paying off and doing it alongside some of your best friends in the world who are still my dear friends and will always be. they're stuck with me. it's the beauty of having teammates. >> no doubt. great shots of the 28-year-old julie foudy then a world cup champion alongside the former president bill clinton. thanks nor talking to us. we'll be cheering alongside you on sunday. >> no problem. trans, peter. >> that does it thr if edition of "andrea mitchell reports." andrea continues her live reports from vienna tomorrow. thanks for calling angie's list. how may i help you? 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