>> yeah, rob is in vienna. i spoke with him this morning. on this issue, i think it's important to back up. i know we have limited time, but it's important to back up. i read this morning that the former chief of the israel defense forces, that the last administrations decision to get out of jcpoa was a strategic mistake, and it led to an unshackled iranian nuclear program. go back and read where we were a couple months before we walked in here, say december 2020. we had two dozen rockets falling at our embassy in baghdad. we were flying b-52 bombers from the united states to the middle east and back as a show of force. iran enriched uranium was at 20%. this is something we inherited, and we are not placing blame -- that's not our job, this is our responsibility, but this is not a problem we should be having. the jcpoa, whatever you want to say about it, it did put cap on iran's nuclear program through 2031. but where we are right now, given the advances of iran's nuclear program -- it was predicted when that decision was made by sun that ir

meanwhile, the talks in vienna have been again, not seeming to make a lot of progress, not continuing as we speak right now . meanwhile, the israeli defense minister benny gantz was in washington a couple of weeks ago and made certain requests. it was reported one of the requests he made was for -- to be expedited into the united states and that the u.s. declined. this is something that you have been focused on. given where we are, we thought it was important to delve into a lot of detail with ron about these issues. let's go with a little history before we get to today. there has been a lot of reporting and israel, here in the u.s., that given where the state of iranian nuclear escalation is, a number are claiming that it was a mistake for president trump to withdraw from the jcpoa a few years ago -- and this is something when you were ambassador, this was prime minister netanyahu's priorities, to persuade the u.s. to do that. why don't we address that issue and then we can move up to today. ron: sure. thank you. welcome to everyone on the call. when i was ambassador at the time, i s

-- vienna. this is one part of the three sets of discussions happening this week. reporter: can i ask for the late east then chicago schools closure dispute, the governor announced over the weekend the availability of tests. he previously sought the administration's help in procuring tests. ka up you say if the tests have been prodeur through the -- procure through the federal involvement and do you have any message to the chicago teachers' union or the mayor of chicago on what you hope to see in the coming days there? jen: i would say we are in regular touch with the governor and his team and the mayor as well we can continue to convey how those -- to have those conversations behind the scenes. we have been clear publicly and privately we want to see schools open. the president fought for additional assistance in the american rescue plan, $130 billion including $5 billion that went to illinois, $10 billion that went to testing across the country, to ensure we were prepared and had resources nee

right now, on monday, january 3, the eighth round of negotiations commenced in vienna. those are ongoing. what we are looking at, and what we were -- would like to remind the public of, is why we are at this point right now. most importantly, another thing we are looking at, iran's increased capability and capacity. there aggressive actions they have taken around the world would be happening -- would not be happening if the former had not recklessly pulled out of the nuclear deal with no thought as to what might come next. if you look at the impact, the fact the former president ripped at the nuclear deal meant iran's nuclear program was no longer in a box. no longer had the tight restrictions on nuclear activity and where we are at as the negotiations are ongoing, and as we conveyed in december, that we were a bit frustrated by the lack of seriousness negotiators came to the table. they came back and we are back at the table again. because of the last administration pulling out of the nuclear agreement, iran's program has been rapidly accelerating. iran attacked our pa

that is why the special envoy met in vienna and will meet with him again at any time to hear his important perspective at his thoughts. we are deeply moved by his commitment to the release of those american citizens in the country nationals who are wrongfully detained in iran. you heard from the special envoy that we are continuing to pursue separate indirect talks with iran to secure the release of those who are unjustly held by the regime. you heard us make the point that it would not serve our interest and would certainly not serve the interests of the americans and third country nationals who are unjustly held in iran tie their fate to a proposition that is at best uncertain. that is a proposition that is at best uncertain. we want the return of americans and third country nationals to be a certainty. that is our goal. to bring them home. to reunite them with their families. of course, we do not want to have anything unnecessarily stand in the way. we will continue to treat these issues as separate as we strive to secure their way home. reporter: the weight you are handling the section

then there is the 12th in brussels, the nato/russia council and the 13th in vienna represented by our ambassador to the osc my carpenter. -- osce mike carpenter. russia has raised publicly, also privately, the issue of european security. let's be clear. over the past oco -- two decades roger has invaded neighboring countries, -- russia has invaded two neighboring countries, interfered in foreign elections, used chemical weapons, and violated international arms control agreements. we and our allies will be raising those and other issues with russia in the days and weeks ahead as part of these talks. we cannot forget an ongoing russian military occupation in ukraine. we will continue to actively support progress on the minsk accord to resolve the current conflict. there have been proposals that russia has already published or put out advocated for. president biden has made clear that we can make progress on some issues, while others are not viable. we are not responding point by point. i do not expect we will in these negotiations. because, in our experience, you do not make actual prog

vienna, virginia, allissa, democratic caller. you're next. caller: hi. i'm actually a republican caller. i called in on the republican line. good morning. host: good morning. caller: happy to be on "washington journal." the biggest news story this week i think is the survival of the filibuster through the failure of the voting rights act. and almost just as important is something biden said in his news conference two days ago. marking his first year in office he said when he said he would take his policies on the road and talk to the american people in person, this is so important. and it's something he hasn't done this past year. he needs to go on the road speaking for his re-election, but unfortunately for him i don't believe it will help his odds. unless there are short news conferences and night shows, his cognitive decline. i just believe we need new blood up and down the ballot throughout the government. those are the biggest issues this week i think. host: speaking of that news conference, you heard president biden ask rhetorically what do republi

professor of history at yale university and permanent fellow at the institute for human sciences in vienna. he has received a number of prizes including the foundation for polish science prize in social sciences and a pricing political thought. he was a martial scholar at oxford and holds state orders from estonia, lithuania, and poland. now we will turn to professor appelbaum for her remarks. >> thank you so much, mr. chairman. all of us have in our minds a cartoon image of what we think an autocratic state looks like. there is a bad man at the top and he controls the police and the police threaten people with violence and there are collaborators and maybe dissidents. in the 21st century that cartoon bears little resemblance to reality. nowadays autocracies are run not by one bad guy but by networks composed of kleptocratic structures heavily invested in our country and other democracies, security services, paramilitary surveillance and professional propagandists, and the members of these networks are not only connected within a given country but among many countries, so the corrupt state

. >> if i may ask a quick one on iran, i would want to get a sense on whether any of the vienna talks on making any progress. do you think it is time to give up on that? pres. biden: it is not time to give up. there is some progress being made. it remains to be seen. ok. kristen, nbc. russia. i do have a number of domestic policy issues. but on russia very quickly. it seems like you said that you have assessed, you feel as though he will move in. that is h -- has this administration, have you determined whether president putin plans to invade or move into ukraine as he said? -- as you said? president biden: look. the only thing i'm confident of is that decision is totally, solely, completely putin's decision. nobody else is going to make that decision. no one else is going to impact that decision. he's making that decision. and i suspect it matters which side of the bed he gets up on in the morning as to exactly what he's going to do. and i think it is not irrational if he wanted to talk about dealing with strategic doctrine and dealing with force structures in europe and in the europ

i want your sense on whether the vienna talks are making progress, if you think it's still possible to make a keel for both sides to have plains with the iran nuclear deal. president biden: it's not time to give up there is progress being made. p-5 plus one is on the same page but it remains to be seen. kristen, nbc. reporter: very quickly on russia. i do have a number of domestic policy issues. but on russia very quickly. it seems like you said that you have assessed, you feel as though he will move in. that is h -- has this administration, have you determined whether president putin plans to invade or move into ukraine as he said? president biden: look. the only thing i'm confident of is that decision is totally, solely, completely putin's decision. nobody else is going to make that decision. no one else is going to impact that decision. he's making that decision. and i suspect it matters which side of the bed he gets up on in the morning as to exactly what he's going to do. and i think it is not irrational if he wanted to to talk abdealing with strategic doctrine and dealing with fo

she will also attend a meeting for the organization for security cooperation in vienna on thursday, though the talks are not expected to yield any major progress but they may buy more time as the u.s. looks to rally more allies behind potential sanctions if vladimir putin decides to escalate tensions. bruce, new york, what do you think the u.s. should do here? caller: in response to what mcconnell is saying, i have to say there's a lot of lip service coming from him but no unified voice that has traditionally come from the republican party as a whole. i'm 70 years old, my entire life i have seen the republicans aggressively go after russia, russian transgressions. more than they needed to and they always kept a hard line against any kind of boundaries being tested. you know, i guess the obama failure to stop russia from crossing boundaries, which i'm not faulting obama, it's just historically correct. it gives vladimir putin a certain amount of i think false confidence that he can do what he can do that biden is in and there really is no, no, no price to pay because he holds all the cards