. >> joining us on "newsmakers" is senator patrick leahy. thanks for being with us. >> it is good to the here. >> joining us is mattingly and john bradley. >> thank you for being here. your committee has been at the center of two of the biggest debates this year. as we are heading into the august recess, i would like to know what your personal top priorities are. >> we have several. i've been having a lot of quiet meetings with members of the house, both republicans and democrats. to see if we could have something on the president desk. the way the nsa is scooping up information about americans, i do not think there is enough transparency. i think we can have more with endangering our safety. of they have a better idea how this court works. -- ao wanted to do another number of other new things. if somebody is going to be charged with a crime, whether it is dna evidence or something, does it meet certain standards so we do not have some of the terrible mistakes we have seen in the past? change the trying to way we sentence people. against man

leahy of vermont. >> i want to know if -- whether it's n.s.a. or anybody else that's made a mistake, we ought to know that. if they're tapping into people's telephones where they have no right to, we ought to know that. >> reporter: almost 20 billions are already pending in congress to limit the surveillance program, to protect american calls and e-mails, and to ins the n.s.a. reports to

eastern also on c-span. " isoining us on "newsmakers senator patrick leahy. .hanks for joining us joining us for the questioning, phil mattingly, of bloomberg news. and legal affairs for cq roll call. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for being here. >> your committee has been at the center of two of the biggest debates, guns and immigration. as we head into this recess, i'd like to know what your personal top priorities are for the remainder of the year. -having a lot of quiet -- i've been having a lot of quiet meetings with members of the house. to get something on the president's. hearing this week, is getting nsa information on americans, i don't think there is enough transparency. i intend to work for some limitations and have the american people have a better idea how the secret court, the fisa court works. i want to do a number of other things. senator corner of texas and i are working on a way to get forensic labs. if somebody is going to be charged with a crime, and there is dna evidence, there is at least certain standards so we do not have some of the terrible this takes w

patrick leahy of vermont of the subcommittee is saying earlier today the obama administration has decided to cut military aid to egypt after two weeks of violence between the egyptian military, police and security forces and the muslim brotherhood in 1,000 people have been killed and david carle says the senator's understanding is the egyptian paula terry has been halted and said deputy press secretary disagrees dance the human of questions from the white house press corps before he finally declared fellow democrats patrick leahy is flat out wrong. >> it is important for you and your readers to understand providing foreign assistance you cannot turn it off fraud or up and down but it is provided so those staunches are under review it has not been cut off but is under review. >> it could describe the obama foreign policy itself and its defense firm on the senator's claim telling fox news that the state department subcommittee was told the transfer of military aid was stopped. it started by conspicuously announcing a previously unscheduled cabinet level meeting today to discuss cutting aid

leahy saying that the u.s. has an effect suspended aid to egypt while the white house denies that claim so what shall we first of all make of those contradicting reports. meghan it's great to be talking with you. you know obviously this is a fluid situation as they say it's kind of a cliche but it is there's a lot of moving parts senator leahy has actually said from the beginning he's been really clear on this that he thinks aid should be cut he said this as soon as the military deposed morsi back in july. and he's saying that it's a coup when the current aid that is scheduled to run through september thirtieth they believe this completed they cannot get any more money from the united states the white house is saying that they're still. you know teasing the situation out and trying to figure out how to proceed and also that the sequester has impacted the aid and that's important to explain because a lot of our aid that we sent to egypt actually goes through american arms manufacturers who build the weapons that

here's senator patrick leahy on the voting rights issue. [video clip] this was not a state acting like they were open to negotiation or any effort to make sure all the problems they had with voting could be fixed. andhoping we can go back have a new voting rights act consistent with the supreme court. the supreme court is sharply divided. five people decided that after an hour of hearing argument, they understood this better than the hundreds of hearings, hundreds of hours. people said, you must have gotten it wrong. .e're going to change it --n then, the chief justice there still will be voting rights violations. host: the full interview coming up at the top of the hour on "newsmakers." what do you want to hear from lawmakers? barb is joining us on the line for democrats. i saw the newspaper hear about how much we are spending on defense and health care. health care implementation is taking a lot of time and money. whatever is going on is ridiculous and i would like them to concentrate on a solution. i don't really have a political party.

it is beneath the office he holds. >> coming up, "washington journal." " with patrickers leahy. and then we will be live in milwuakie for the final day of the national governors' association summer meeting. what are the milestone years for first ladies through history? mrs.ld say, certainly, adams, her period, the first to live in the white house, very opinionated, bright lady, capable lady. on a more social side, dolley madison, the melodrama of the burning of the house. then you have other first ladies but you go through a period for there are not many first lady's. i would take it up from there to harriet lane, president buchanan's niece. , that was thebers grandest whitehouse that ever happened. -- more with williams eale seale tonight at 8:00. >> we have never known what to do with our first ladies, and that is particularly true in recent times. on the one hand, they are expected to have causes. you cannot imagine a first lady today without a cause. and the other hand, those causes are not permitted to intrude upon law making, or an official it has been a tight rope. seeing

yesterday during a senate judiciary committee hearing committee chairman patrick leahy questioned if the nsa programs have helped thwart the terrorist attacks that the nsa claims they have. >> this program is not effective and i want has to end. the government is collecting information on millions of innocent americans based on an interpretation on this statute that on its face does not authorize this bulk collection. what's it going to be next? when is enough enough? >> becoming clear that the president and congress need to propose some sort of reform because the whole thing is going to come undone if they are not but what are the chances of that happening. let's bring back our gaggle. perry, it is like i said it is clear, patrick leahy was responding to the nsa put out all this public information, look at all this terrorist that was thwarted. seriously? this smells like the white house trying to float what can they come up with. >> look at the guest list. richard supported everything barack obama has done until now where he's been very critical of the nsa program. i think you're se

utah, rand paul, patrick leahy, and dick durbin have spearheaded this in the senate. state the capital of punishment, has closed three prisons. the fact that they are closing prisons shows that this is a national movement. precisely what the president ought to give a speech, explain the issues, exert some pressure, and show some urgency. >> this is being driven by economics. says if a guy is caught heroin, andt of that would trigger an automatic sentence -- then conceal the amount. that is not how you do it. >> the reality of the way that this works, it is the mules who are caught, the people carrying a large quantity of drugs, and they get a huge penalty, as much doeas a kingpin. you use that as leverage. mules frequently do not have anything to tell beyond one guy. >> a federal judge says that stop and frisk, you cannot do it. blumberg says of that will increase crime across the city -- mayor bloomberg says that that will increase crime across the city. >> the judge is right. >> you have an excellent idea. we need to work and that together. there is a guy in boston

patrick leahy lead the committee hearing said he's seen a list of terror events. but was not convinced the nsa tactics are effective. later today president obama intends to meet with congress to discuss programs as fell as the controversy fisa courts. president obama is not done trying to reboot his economic message. first, they were called that then went behind closed doors on capitol hill yesterday. the president with sessions to rally across the middle last plan. the house speaker didn't miss an opportunity to take a dig. >> i'm not going to speak for what the president is doing or why he's doing it. if i had poll numbers as low as his, i would be out doing the same thing if i were him. if i were him. >> now, just for comparison sake here, boehner's favorability, 18%. president obama, 48%. during one of the sessions the question about the next fed chairman bubbled up. according to reports, the democratic president walked up to the microphone saying larry summers, bad choice. they were told not to believe everything they read in the huffington post. the presiden

senator patrick leahy dismayed that no heads have rolled at the nsa. >> if a 29-year-old school dropout can come in and take out massive, massive amounts of data, it's obvious that there weren't adequate controls. has anybody been fired? >> no, sir, not yet. >> has anybody been admonished? >> sir, those investigations are under way. >> reporter: many senators who believe the programs are necessary for national security say more is needed to ensure they're conducted legally. >> i don't want the public to take our word for it. i think there's a balance here. >> reporter: the pushback goes beyond congress. at a conference in las vegas, a heckler shouted at the nsa director general alzander. >> if you disagree with what we're doing, then you should help twice as much. >> read the constitution. >> i have. you should, too. >> reporter: kelly o'donnell, nbc news, the capitol. >>> a new round of evacuations in central washington as a massive wildfire continues to grow. that blaze has burned more than 104 square miles and is only 8% contained. authorities have declared a state of emergency and t

leahy some time later this fall. richard? >> thank you so much. >>> the first settlement is reached in the penn state jerry sandusky child molestation scandal. the school signed an agreement with a 25-year-old suburban philadelphia man known as victim five. the attorneys expect to finalize settlements in 25 of the 31 cases in the coming weeks. penn state authorized some $60 million for the settlements. a jury convicted san dus key last year of 45 counts of sex abuse. he is serving a 30 to 60-year sentence behind bars. he is appealing that. >>> a city in japan has some cleaning up to do after a volcano roared to life on sunday. the volcano shot a plume of ash 16,000 feet into the air and on to a nearby city. no one was injured but people did resort to face masks and umbrellas to combat the falling ash. nbc meteorologist bill karins joins us right now. you don't want to be in that situation. tough to breathe as well. >> i would like to -- i've never seen a volcano explode. i'd love to see one, be near it but not in it.

senator patrick leahy dismayed no heads are rolled at the nsa. >> a 29-year-old school dropout can come in and take out massive, massive amounts of data. it's obvious there weren't adequate controls. has anybody been fired? >> no, sir, not yet. >> has anybody been admonished? >> sir those investigations under way. >> many senators believe the programs are necessary for national security say more is needed to ensure they're conducted legally. >> i don't want the public to take our word for it always. i think there's a balance here. >> reporter: the pushback goes beyond congress. in a conference in las vegas. a hecklers heckled. >> read the constitution. >> i have. you should, too. >> kelly o'donnell. nbc news, the capitol. >>> and outside of our "first look" scrambled politics. the arizona and minnesota are the first state to legalize snej. senator rand paul is offering to bury the hatchet with chris kisskiss chris chris christi. >> i try to keep things in a less personal way. with governor christi it's gotten to personal. we're ready to kiss and make up. >> senator paul offered to smoot

senator patrick leahy dismayed that no heads have rolled at the nsa. >> for a 29-year-old school dropout to come in and take out massive, massive amounts of data, it is obvious that there weren't adequate controls. has anybody been fired? >> no, sir, not yet. >> has anybody been admonished? >> sir, those investigations are under way. >> reporter: many senators believe the programs are necessary for national security, and say more is needed to ensure they're conducted legally. >> i don't want the public to take our word for it. i think there is a balance here. >> reporter: the pushback goes beyond congress. today, the conference in las vegas, a heckler shouted at nsa director general alexander. >> if you disagree with what we're doing, then you should help twice as much. >> read the constitution! >> i have. you should too. >> reporter: and tomorrow at least a half dozen members of congress are headed to the white house, invited by the president to talk about the issues as congress considers adjustments to these programs, but would keep them in operation. brian? >> kelly o'donnell on the h

military aid on thursday both vermont senator patrick leahy and kentucky senator rand. paul told the hill that they want president obama to freeze all military aid to egypt referencing the president's announcement yesterday that the u.s. had canceled its upcoming joint military exercises the egyptian armed forces leahy said while suspending joint military exercises as the president has done is an important step our law is clear aid to the egyptian military should cease unless they restore democracy president obama said today that he's reassessing that aid to egypt and so first of all i'm just curious each one of your thoughts on this friend cheska let me begin with i've been very vocal about how we need to suspend aid to egypt to the death have been ridiculous and as you said calls from the left and the right senator john mccain has also said suspend aid to egypt ted cruz it's very rare when you have that many people from all sorts of the spectrum who are on the same who are on the same page on this issue on the other hand maybe not on the other hand but as another piec

vermont senator patrick leahy questions how effective the information is in stopping terror attacks. >> this program is not effective. it has to end. so far i'm not convinced by what i see. >> the nsa insists the programs are critical to national security, and now the agency is going public with more details about them. wednesday the intelligence agency declassified three documents detailing the rules for collecting and analyzing the programs. nsa director general keith alexander defended the program at the nsa conference lvs. it was a rough crowd. >> why to congress? why have you lied to congress? >> i haven't lied to congress. >> alexander says the surveillance has helped foil terrorist activity around the world. now, the guardian newspaper which first published information through nsa contractor edward snowden is now publishing information about another program and it's called x key score and this apparently gives nsa access to virtually all internet browsing activity worldwide. anne-marie? >> susan mcginnis in washington. thank you, susan. >>> well, ariel castro, the cleveland ma

military aid on thursday both vermont senator patrick leahy and kentucky senator rand paul told the hill that they were. on president obama to freeze all military aid to egypt referencing the president's announcement yesterday that the u.s. had canceled its upcoming joint military exercises the egyptian armed forces leahy said while suspending joint military exercises as the president has done is an important step our law is clear aid to the egyptian military should cease unless they restore democracy president obama said today that he's reassessing that aid to egypt and so first of all i'm just curious each one of your thoughts on this french let me begin with you i have been very vocal about how we need to suspend aid to egypt to the deaths have been ridiculous and as you said calls from the left and the right senator john mccain has also said suspend aid to egypt ted cruz it's very rare when you have that many people from all sorts of the spectrum who are on the same who are on the same page on this issue on the other hand maybe not on the other hand but as another piece of that we ar

patrick leahy has said he is he said the changes. nsa got out of their lane on this. this is problematic for the hiselligence committee. willingness as a leader and chairman to take this position shows that he is an independent in the senate. >> they brought up the issue of immigration and gun control. where are both of these issues? >> gun-control he said is over with. he sees immigration as still life.-- alive. even though it is now out of his hands, he is still going to work really hard at communicating with members of the house and trying to get the final product to the president does.-- president's desk. >> thank you for being with us here. we appreciate it. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] i've been pushing for this in the senate, that we would move cybersecurity legislation. it is complicated. network cybersecurity means different things to different people, but we need to get this done. is for -- as hard as it me to say. they have passed some of this. we need to look at what they h

senator patrick leahy chairs the committee through which u.s. funds for egypt must flow. unless mr. obama can convince the senate otherwise aid to egypt will halt. that threatens the strategic partnership in effect since the historic 1979 camp david peace accord. before last week's crackdown the obama administration urged egypt's military to allow the pro-morsi street protests to continue. this alarmed allies like saudi arabia, the united arab emirates and jordan. they sent emmasarys. their reasoning is this. the struggle in egypt is a battle between islamic radicalism and secularism. and only one side can win. our regional allies believe president obama has been searching for a nonexistent middle ground between the muslim brotherhood and egypt's secularists. after the crackdown which left hundreds dead and thousands injured, threats to cut off aid have come from the european union and the united states. but saudi arabia and the gulf state, notably qatar, and the united arab emirates, have pledged an outlay of 12 billion, nearly 0 times america's military aid to egypt to support the

. >> the head of the senate judiciary committee patrick leahy says since the nsa is not giving straight answers he'll open a senate hearing after the summer break. >>> now to the latest developments in egypt. it's been a day of rage. dozens of people were killed in confrontations with security forces. and demonstrators gathered by the thousands. the protests came just two days after egypt's military ruler ordered his forces to clear protest camps. at least 638 people were killed and 1,000 more were wounded. nbc's ayman moden reports. >> reporter: for the third straight night the government has imposed a curfew on the capital, cairo, and cities all across the country. this comes on the heels of a day that has been called a day of rage. that's what it was called by supporters of the ousted president mohammed morrisse president mohammed morrisd mors. their aim was to express that is dissatisfaction with what happened on wednesday, the mass killing of their supporters who were camped out at a protest location demanding that president morsi be reinstated. in their eyes they believe the milit

vermont senator patrick leahy says tv ads by mayor michael bloomberg turned people off to new reforms. that's going to do it for your morning dish of scrambled politics. >>> heavy rain in central kansas caused widespread flashed flooding. an assisted living facility and hundreds of other residents had been evacuated. a flash flood warning sish used through monday morning. now for a look another the weather, here is nbc meteorologist dylan dreyer. all that water, is it going to continue? >> they're going to get more rain. the flash flood warnings are in effect for today. it only takes two feet of water to sweep a car away. that's why these warnings are issued to remind people don't drive into those, what look like puddles because they could be much deeper than you expect. back through kansas we're seeing more rain, also southern missouri and arkansas. minneapolis seeing torrential downpours with those thunderstorms moving into northeastern iowa. we are looking at the threat of perhaps up to three inches of rain in minneapolis and down across southeastern kansas, southern missouri and n

democrat patrick leahy is the chairman of the senate judiciary committee. >> so what's going to be next? when is enough enough? i think congress has to carefully consider the powerful surveillance tools that we grant to the government. >> reporter: to ease some of the fears, the obama administration today declassified three top- secret documents detailing the n.s.a.'s mass collection of u.s. phone records. a surveillance program first revealed by edward snowden. this is the april, 2013, order from the foreign intelligence surveillance court directing a phone company to turn over domestic call data. and these letters from the justice department to congressional intelligence committees claim the n.s.a. follows strict rules safeguarding civil liberties. while heavily redacted, the letters say n.s.a. programs collect in bulk certain dialing, routing, addressing and signaling information but not the content of the calls. the letters also say the data collection efforts are subject to an extensive regime of internal checks and are monitored by the fisa court and congress. top intelligence off

leahy of vermont. >> i want to know if -- whether it's n.s.a. or anybody else that's made a mistake, we ought to know that. if they're tapping into people's telephones where they have no right to, we ought to know that. >> reporter: almost 20 billions are already pending in congress to limit the surveillance program, to protect american calls and e-mails, and to ins the n.s.a. reports to congress. scott, these new ra *ef hraeugss are likely to increase bipartisan support for top-to-bottom surveillance reform. >> pelley: and late today the white house said that the audit itself was evidence that the government is being careful. wyatt, thank you very much. that u.p.s. cargo jet that crashed while attempting to land in birmingham, alabama, this week was descending too quickly. the national transportation safety board told us this evening that one of the plane's computers began warning the crew about its descent a little more than seven second before the crash. both pilots were killed. kids in moore, oklahoma, go back to school today three months af

leahy told the daily beast on monday that military aid to egypt has been temporarily cut off this is why to different narrative from what we are hearing from the white house itself which says that the aid is under review particularly military aid but it is on hold and our it is not on hold and has not yet been cut off now to be clear technically the administration's rhetoric is not completely amiss the five hundred eighty five million dollars of promised aid to the egyptian military in fiscal two thousand and thirteen is not due until september thirtieth so it could still happen if things hold down before then all the while the clashes in egypt are still continuing on a daily basis in the straits of cairo. at least one thousand people have died hundreds of others have been injured and there are still no signs of an end to the bloodshed to talk about this more in depth and the crisis in egypt what it means for the u.s. as well as the region moving forward earlier i was joined by our keys bell true from cairo and i started off by asking her about the government imposed curfew. right no

better and fair having two sides represented in court what's more american also senator patrick leahy introduced the comprehensive accountability in privacy protection act which narrows the scope of the patriot act to limits gag orders on data collection view and fast forwards the sunset of the fai's amendments act congress has to carefully consider the powerful surveillance to be granted government intrusion sure there is stringent oversight accountability and transparency i've introduced a bill that addresses not only section two hundred five and section seven the two but also national security letters and roving wiretaps and other authorities in the patriot act it's also today senator al franken dropped a bill requiring disclosure of the number of americans who had their information collected and reviewed by the n.s.a. i don't want to a situation where the government is transparent only when it's convenient for the government meanwhile in the house congressman rush holt introduced legislation to repeal the patriot act and the pfizer amendments act passing the patriot act is one of

better and fair having two sides represented in court what's more american also senator patrick leahy introduced the comprehensive accountability in privacy protection act which narrows the scope of the patriot act to limits gag orders on data collection view and fast forwards the sunset of the fai's amendments act congress has to carefully consider the powerful surveillance to be granted government intrusion sure that there is stringent oversight accountability and transparency i've introduced a bill that addresses not only section two hundred five and section seven zero two but also national security letters and roving wiretaps and other authorities in the patriot act it's also today senator al franken dropped a bill requiring disclosure of the number of americans who had their information collected and reviewed by the n.s.a. i don't want to a situation where the government is transparent only when it's convenient for the government meanwhile in the house congressman rush holt introduced legislation to repeal the patriot act and the pfizer amendments act passing the patriot act is o

the office of vermont senator patrick leahy told the daily beast that military aid to egypt has been temporarily cut off something that the white house says is simply not true they say that it is under review but not currently on hold now to be clear technically technically the white house is right the five hundred eighty five million dollars of promised aid to the egyptian military is not due until september thirtieth so it still could go to the egyptian military if things calm down before then and while all of this is going on protests are still happening in the streets of cairo though they have been much calmer these past three days and if you're wondering why that is that's because of a nationwide curfew that is in effect forcing people off the streets at night bell true is in cairo and she describes that government imposed curfew. well right now we're actually on the government imposed because p. which means the close of the country everyone is at home holed up in that living room always leads to the screen to see what the lace is happening in egypt has been a quiet few days if

better and fair having two sides represented in court what's more american also senator patrick leahy introduced the comprehensive accountability in privacy protection act which narrows the scope of the patriot act to limits gag orders on data collection view and fast forwards the sunset of the fai's amendments act congress has to carefully consider the powerful surveillance tools to be granted government intrusion sure there is stringent oversight accountability and transparency i've introduced a bill that addresses not only section two hundred five and six and seven the two but also national security letters roving wiretaps and other authorities of the patriot act it's also today senator al franken dropped a bill requiring disclosure of the number of americans who had their information collected and reviewed by the end i said i don't want to a situation where the government is transparent only when it's convenient for the government meanwhile in the house congressman rush holt introduced legislation to repeal the patriot act and the pfizer amendments act passing the patriot act is o

patrick leahy of vermont of the subcommittee is saying earlier today the obama administration has decided to cut military aid to egypt after two weeks of violence between the egyptian military

heather: senator patrick leahy, promising a hearing, calling for that. so we'll see if that happens. thank you for joining us angela. >> thank you, heather. heather: you can now by the way sign up for the hottest fnc stories straight to your in-box every single day. this of course is one of them. visit foxnews.com/foxnewsfirst. simply enter your email into the line. click on the sign-up button and you're good to go. that is foxnews.com/foxnewsfirst. do not miss out. jon: we have the latest on a controversial move by the fed ral government. paying planned parenthood to help people sign up for health care. what is going on there? more on that ahead. >>> plus closing arguments in the court-martial of accused fort hood shooter nidal hasan. a live report as both sides wrap up their cases. love, warmth. love, warmth. here, try this. mm, ok! ching! i like the fact that there's lots of different tastes going on. mmmm! breakfast i'm very impressed. this is a great cereal! honey bunches of oats. i hear you crunching. >> right now president obama is at the universi

leahy announced decisions to hear more on that. >> jed, what about you? >> when this first came out all of the telecom companies saying no access. the reason why is because most of the time the government is now copying large quantities, tear and i think the fact we see these being built just shows you how much data is available and it's a lot different world. there's such an explosion of data that that creates these privacy issues that 10, 20, 30 years ago didn't exist. >> now it's about absorbing it and figuring out what to do it bit later. >>> outrage on twitter. we will break that down. the exact wording of this tweet and the explanation the show is giving now. some u.s. movie studios have a long way to go when it comes to equal representation for lgbt roles in 2012 movies. you can read more on my facebook page. no, no, no! stop! humans. one day we're coming up with the theory of relativity, the next... not so much. but that's okay -- you're covered with great ideas like optional better car replacement from liberty mutual insurance. total your car and

. >> the new policy drawing praise today from republican senator rand paul and patrick leahy, dick durbin and mike lee have been working about it all. i want to talk about it all. crystal wright and mark geragos join me. crystal, you support stop and frisk, saying the judge was being politically correct, it's not a police problem, you called it a black problem. explain what you mean by that. >> sure. the evidence is clear. stop and frisk works, it saves lives, i lived in new york city, anderson in the 1990s. it was a war zone, we know you had over 2,000 people killed each other. and fast forward to mayor bloomberg after giuliani, we know that there's been about 400 murders last year in new york city. under bloomberg, we've had a 34% drop in crime. so it works, and what's sad about the judge's ruling is, she's chosen the politically correct route. in our country and cities like new york, chicago and detroit, right here in d.c., white people aren't being killed or killing, it's blacks and hispanics, in new york city. i'll leave you with this note. in 2009 in new york. blacks represented abo

an aide to democratic senator patrick leahy said the senator was told, quote, the transfer of military aid was stopped already by the obama administration in private. hit with a barrage of questions, white house spokesman josh earnest said that's not true, and danced around whether leahy's office was wrong. >> i haven't seen the whole statement, so i am not making a declaration. i will tell you our aid continues to be under review. >> reporter: a debate over semantics, just as the administration won't say there was a coup in egypt because doing so would force the u.s. by law to cut off aid. >> why won't the administration be transparent with the american people and the world when the entire world can see the military came in, took out a democratically elected president. >> and what i am saying to you, something that's available to anybody that seeks answer to this question, we made the determination that making a decision about whether or not a coup occurred is not in the best interest of the united states. >> reporter: a new pole from pew research shows the public is frustrated with t

according to the office of the vermont democratic senator patrick leahy his committee learned the transfer of military aid was stopped -- a quote -- and, quote, this is current practice, not necessarily official policy, end quote. listen to the white house spinning of this today. >> our relationship with egypt is under a review, but it has not been cut off. a decision to cut off the aid, a decision to cut off the aid, would be announced after that review has been completed. >> shepard: the white house spokesperson said aid has not been cut off. some 900 men, women, children, reported dead in the last week after egypt's military cleared not one but two protest camps. the protesters fought back. ed henry is live. this is semantics. i listen to the official from egypt say, we appreciate your money, we want your money, but there was a time we didn't get your money. we can get it front the russians. they're holing us like this, making fun. >> a little bit. you say the russians, the saudis pouring billions of dollars in, other gulf states so the american aid at the end of the day may not matter

the daily beast first reported today that, according to vermont senator patrick leahy's ovation the obama administration has suspended assistance temporarily. white house spokesman josh earnest insisted that was not true. >> this is part of a complex and broad relationship that we have with the egyptians. that review that the president ordered to early july has not concluded and reports to the contrary that -- published reports to the contrary that suggest that assistance to egypt has been cut off are not accurate. >> but leahy's office stood by its claim in a statement saying the state department and foreign operations appropriations subcommittee was told that the transfer of military aid was stopped, that this is current practice, not necessarily official policy, and there is no occasion of how long it will last. meanwhile administration cabinet members met at the white house this afternoon to discuss the egypt aid question further. >> for more on how much influence the u.s. and other nations have on the uncertain situation in egypt, i'm joined by talrak massu from the john f. kennedy s

. >> the new policy drawing praise today from republican senator rand paul and patrick leahy, democrat dick durbin and mike lee have been working about it all. i want to talk about it all. charles blow joins us as well crystal wright and mark geragos joining me. crystal, you support stop and frisk, saying the judge was being politically correct, it's not a police problem, you called it a "black problem." explain what you mean by that. >> sure. the evidence is clear. stop and frisk works, it saves lives. i lived in new york city, anderson, in the 1990s. it was a war zone, we know you had over 2,000 people killed each other. and fast forward to mayor bloomberg after giuliani, we know that there's been about 400 murders last year in new york city. under bloomberg, we've had a 34% drop in crime. so it works, and what's sad about the judge's ruling is, she's chosen the politically correct route. in our country and cities like new york, chicago and detroit, right here in d.c., white people aren't being killed or killing, it's blacks and hispanics, in new york city. i'll leave you with this n

leahy and rand paul which i think is promising legislation aimed at giving federal judges discretion to applying minimums to drug offenders. it will save our country billions of dollars while keeping us more safe. the president and i look forward to working with members of both parties to refine and advance these proposals. secondly, the department has now updated its framework for considering compassionate release for inmates facing extraordinary circumstances who pose no threat to the public. in late april, the bureau of prison expanded the criteria for inmates seeking compassionate release for medical reasons. today, additional expansions to the policy including revised for elderly inmates who did not commit violent crimes and served significant portions of their sentences. of course, as our primary responsibility, we must ensure the american public is protected from anyone who may pose a danger to the community. considering the applications of non-violent offenders through a careful review process that allows judges to consider whether release is warranted is a fair thing to do.

now senator patrick leahy said maybe it was involved in one, but when you look at the details of how these programs were used, it has not stopped nearly the number that some intelligence officials have been claiming. >> yeah, and they've been -- there are many of them who have been careful to say understand this program and other programs we have stopped 54 terrorist attacks. there are some members of congress who have not been very careful and have bordered on giving false testimony to the american people and we should take a close look at that. but yeah, i think those who are careful and cautious about what they say realize that it's not this particular collection of phone records, mass collection of phone records that is doing the work here. >> i spoke to glenn greenwald on this program last night. he pointed out that high level government officials leak classified information all the time if it suits their interest, and nothing seems to happen to them. yet people with no status, no political connections like bradley manning or edward snoeden or lower level officials, they leak in

now senator patrick leahy said maybe it stopped or was involved in one, but when you look at the details of how it was used, it's not stopped nearly the number some intelligence officials have been claiming. >> yeah, they have been -- there are many of them who have been very careful to say under this program and other programs we have stopped 54 terrorist attacks. there are some members of congress who have not been very careful and i think have bordered on giving false testimony to the american people, and we should take a close look at that, but yeah, they -- i think those who are careful and cautious about what they say realize that it's not this particular collection of phone records, mass collection of phone records that is doing the work here. >> i spoke to glenn greenwald on this program last night. he pointed out people within the government, high level officials leak classified information all the time if it suits their political interest or, you know, whatever interest they may have, and nothing seems to happen to them and yet, people with no status, no political connections l