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The Hardball Briefing On MSNBC
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Torture. It's a word that is understandably fueling intense emotions among our
political leaders. President Bush flat out said we don't do it. To make sure we
don't, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), himself a former prisoner of war during
Vietnam, proposed an amendment that would establish uniform standards for
interrogating military detainees and, in his own words, "prohibit cruel,
inhuman, and degrading treatment of persons in the detention of the U.S.
government."
Vice President Cheney has sought to exempt the CIA from McCain's proposal to
give them more leeway in dealing with detainees in the war on terrorism. The
Senate has twice approved McCain's proposal, once by a 90-9 vote and a second
time unanimously, but the proposal may get quashed as House and Senate
negotiators hammer out deals on pending defense bills -- and the vice president
continues to lobby for changes to it. Hardball's David Shuster will kick off
our discussion with an excellent look at this debate and what's going on
behind-the-scenes in the halls of Congress.
Chris dives into the logistics of torture with Joe Navarro, a former FBI
counter-intelligence agent and interrogator. Navarro will share his thoughts on
various interrogation methods, including which ones are effective and which
ones aren't.
Plus, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a member of the Senate Armed Services
Committee, will be here to explain why he supports McCain's proposal and why he
thinks the political debate over torture is so fervent on Capitol Hill.
We'll switch gears from the torture debate to look at the octopus of scandal
investigations involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff. His former associate, Michael
Scanlon, who used to work for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX),
cut a deal with the feds yesterday that has many politicos nervous from coast
to coast. Meanwhile, DeLay himself was in an Austin courtroom today for a
hearing relating to his own conspiracy and money-laundering case. MSNBC's Norah
O'Donnell will join us along with the Hotline's Chuck Todd and the New York
Post's Deb Orin to chew on all of that as well as the latest on the CIA leak
scandal.
And you don't want to miss Chris's conversation with Pfizer Chairman and CEO
Hank McKinnell about his company's work to help earthquake victims in Pakistan.
Here are some things you might not have read yet today:
--Washington Post's look at Cheney's role in the administration
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10133734/
--AP's update on DeLay's court hearing in Austin
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10149220/
--Newsweek's primer on Libby's defense fund
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10117472/site/newsweek/
--Reuters' report on Woodward's mea culpa http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10148718/
--Doonesbury http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/index.html
Brooke Brower compiled the "Hardball Briefing" in Washington, D.C.
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