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The Hardball Briefing On MSNBC
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As tensions continue to rise over Iran's dialogue of defiance with the
international community, U.S. and European officials are pursuing diplomatic
measures to avert a more serious international impasse. President Bush met with
newly elected German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House today.
Responding to reporters' questions after the meeting, the president said, "I
want to put it in this perspective: The U.N. Security Council is part of the
diplomatic process, started by Germany, France, and Great Britain representing
the interests of a lot of countries like ourself, which made it abundantly
clear to the Iranians that the development of the know-how and our -- a nuclear
weapon was unacceptable. And the reason it's unacceptable is because Iran,
armed with a nuclear weapon, poses a grave threat to the security of the
world." Here's more on their joint press conference:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10836280/.
On Hardball tonight, Chris will discuss the latest on this tense situation with
NBC News' Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell. Richard Haass,
president of the Council on Foreign Relations and former advisor to both
Presidents Bush, and Gen. Wayne Downing (Ret.), former commander-in-chief of
U.S. Special Operations, will be here to share their thoughts as well.
The AP has the latest on Iran's threat to end cooperation with the
International Atomic Energy Agency: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10803220.
And for more on a key figure in this situation, Hardball's David Shuster will
give us a profile of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran. Don't miss it!
Chris also will talk tonight with Viet Dinh, who served as assistant attorney
general for legal policy under President Bush from 2001 to 2003 and was once a
law clerk for retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Chris will
ask Dinh about the legal questions surfacing in the Alito hearings, the
upcoming fight (again) over renewing the Patriot Act, and the administration's
argument for the legal justification for the National Security Agency's
formerly secret domestic surveillance program.
If you haven't seen it yet, take a minute to read veteran Republican attorney
Ben Ginsburg's thoughts on Alito's performance on Hardblogger:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10284912/#060113a.
Plus, Chuck Todd, editor-in-chief of National Journal's "Hotline," and Chris
Cillizza, political reporter for the Washington Post, will be here to talk
about the House Republican leadership race, the congressional corruption probe,
the Alito hearings, and much, much more. Check out Todd's latest column on the
future of House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL):
http://nationaljournal.com/members/buzz/2006/trail/011106.htm. And Cillizza's
reports are always rolling in on his blog called "The Fix":
http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/thefix.
By the way, the GOP leadership fight got bigger today, as Rep. John Shadegg
(R-AZ) formally got into the game. The "Hotline On Call" has the latest on
that: http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com.
Here are some things you might not have read yet today:
--NBC News' Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert thinks the president has
reshaped SCOTUS http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5961048/
--Newsweek's Eleanor Clift probes how Alito could end up dividing GOPers
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10839026/site/newsweek/
--Newsweek's Martha Brant ponders the point of SCOTUS nomination hearings
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10825633/site/newsweek
--NBC's First Read http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3626796
--Doonesbury http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/dailydose/index.html
Brooke Brower compiled the "Hardball Briefing" in Washington, D.C.
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