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CNN NEWSROOM
Wintry Storm Threatens Holiday Travel; Reaction Mixed on Iran Nuclear Deal; World Leaders Reach Iran Nuclear Deal; Football Greats Battle in Foxboro; Black Friday Frenzy Begins; Iran's Nuclear Deal Negotiation Considered By Many To Be A Step Up
Aired November 24, 2013 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Martin Savidge. The next hour of NEWSROOM begins right now.
You are in the NEWSROOM. I'm Martin Savidge. Great to be with you. Dallas, Fort Worth right now is in the bull's eye of an early winter storm that could impact holiday travel from Phoenix to Boston. That is a huge swath. Already it is blamed for five deaths.
This video out of Oklahoma shows just how quickly things can go wrong on an icy highway. Fortunately this driver was wearing a seatbelt and walked away unhurt.
CNN's Nick Valencia has been tracking this storm as it approaches Dallas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Coast to coast, the country is feeling the impacts of an earlier than expected winter weather system. And in Texas it's already proving fatal -- icy roads conditions causing this major accident along Interstate 40 forcing multiple cars to collide. The Texas Department of Public Safety warns it may only get worse.
SGT. LONNY HASCHEL, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: In Dallas Fort Worth, you are bracing for a wintry mix -- anything from sleet to freezing rain. And if it gets really bad, we're going to encourage folks just to stay home.
VALENCIA: This deadly winter storm started out west, strong winds in the San Francisco Bay Area downed trees and power lines.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard a big crack and the house started banging and things started kind of falling. And I thought it was a huge earthquake.
VALENCIA: And flooding hit Phoenix, Arizona with almost two inches of rain. But now the winter threat is on the move -- a dangerous system which has the potential to create chaos for millions of travelers all the way into the heavily-populated northeast.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's crazy. It's super, super crazy. I hope it's going to be gone soon.
VALENCIA: Right now, the snow impacts are being felt in New Mexico, Texas and part of the Great Plains. With many people coping with treacherous ice covered roads and bridges.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It feels like the wind is going to pull you over, you know. It just feels like it's going to push you into the next lane.
VALENCIA: The winter weather also hit the gridiron. In Ohio, snow and freezing temperatures played out on Saturday during the Ohio State/Indiana football game in Columbus. Officials had to scrub the snow off the goal line.
Now in the days ahead, more than 40 million Americans are expected to hit the nation's roads and millions of others to fly the skies. Unfortunately, dangerous winds, sleet, snow and raid could be your travel companion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Nick Valencia joins us now live from Dallas where hundreds of flights have been cancelled today because of this approaching storm. And Nick do officials there really expect this to be a major weather event?
VALENCIA: They do. And they are anticipating this to get much worse, especially after midnight. If you remember a few years ago here in Dallas during the Super Bowl, there was a major snow event. That led to them taking a different precaution so they say they're ready and they have the resources and plows in place once the conditions do worsen but as you mentioned the big news today is these flights being cancelled, about 300 flights departing from Dallas Ft. Worth cancelled.
So if you are traveling into this city or out of Dallas it'd be smart of you to check your carrier and see if you are still scheduled to fly -- Martin.
SAVIDGE: Nick let me ask you this, how prepared are they in Dallas right now? I mean what are they doing to get ready? I guess it would depend on which way the storm tracks.
VALENCIA: That's right. The worst case scenario according to the Texas Department of Public Safety is you have about a quarter inch of freezing rain on those roads making the Monday morning commute just disastrous. This storm has already proved fatal.
But earlier, when I spoke to Texas state officials, they say they do have those plows on stand by and they are ready at a moment's notice to help any stranded commuters in case they do get trapped out there in these winter weather conditions -- Martin. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF GUY CHAMBERLAIN, DALLAS COUNTY, TEXAS: This is Texas, in Texas it could be freezing one day in 86 the next. So yes, it's going to get cold. It's coming. But we're ready for it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: All right -- Nick Valencia down there in Dallas.
Karen Maginnis joining us now. And Karen we've already pointed out that there at least five deaths that have been blamed on the storm but the key here is, of course, the track.
KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
SAVIDGE: Tell us what we know?
MAGINNIS: It is critical. Let's start out with what happens on Monday, Marty, because we'll start to see the system really start to ramp up. It's going to be primarily a rain producer across the southeast. So poor driving conditions if you're going into or out of the Atlanta. No, it doesn't look like it's going to be an icy event, at least for now.
But we'll track that area of low pressure as it makes its way to the Gulf Coast. Eventually it's going to emerge across the mid-Atlantic as it does still going to be a rain event. However, on the back side of that, that's what we're looking for the snow and the ice through the southern Appalachia maybe in places like Nashville, stemming into Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky, Cincinnati and Cleveland, that's where at least Cincinnati is, is an airline hub.
SAVIDGE: Yes.
MAGINNIS: So that will impact the region.
Let's go into Wednesday, this is when everybody is going to be rushing around, trying to get some place. Almost no matter where you are, at least along the eastern half of the country, you're going to be impacted by the whether, primarily the wet weather across the southeast, the mixture of ice and snow across the mid-Atlantic and into the interior sections of the northeast along that I-95 corridor. Just to the west of that, that's where we're looking for snow and it could be fairly significant.
I want to show you this as we go through time, where you see that kind of pink shaded area -- that's where we're looking at the ice index. It's freezing rain, the sleet possibly starting out as snowfall but heavy snow in the Ohio River Valley and then into the Eastern Great Lakes, that's going to be quite heavy.
SAVIDGE: You know, the timing really could not be worst.
But let's talk about Thanksgiving Day. What does it look like especially for the Northeast?
MAGINNIS: I am so glad you asked because if we give anybody any hope about their travel plan it's going to be on Thanksgiving Day and that is expecting clear skies so this weather system is going to move out fairly quickly. Left behind though will be a lot of people who have had a lot of frustrations because of what the travel conditions are going to do on the highways and in the air.
But my guess is expect those delays in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington D.C., New York not because of snow but because other (inaudible) places are going to be receiving some snowfall. For Atlanta it will be reduced visibility, those higher terrains in northern sections of Piedmont and South Carolina and North Carolina those places will see some icy conditions.
So the level of frustration Marty is going to be running high for the next 72 hours Thanksgiving Day. We can take a breath of fresh air.
SAVIDGE: Yes.
MAGINNIS: And it's going to be a lot quieter then.
SAVIDGE: Please pack your patience and be very careful.
MAGINNIS: Exactly.
SAVIDGE: All right Karen Maginnis, thank you very much.
Moving on to other news the brand new nuclear agreement with Iran is either the key to a safer Middle East or a historic mistake that makes the entire world more dangerous. It really depends on whose position you are hearing.
Negotiators late last night emerged from talks in Switzerland with news that Iran will roll back its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some economic sanctions. A short time ago I spoke to a senior member of the Senate Arm Services Committee who says time will tell if this deal will work.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BILL NELSON (D), FLORIDA: We now have a choice. If what the goal is that Iran would not have a nuclear weapon, then if that's the stated goal that everybody understands, then there's the choice. And the choice is between this agreement which is a pause or the inevitable march to war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Skeptical lawmakers from both sides of the aisle took to the network talk shows today. And even some prominent Democrats say that this deal with Iran is poorly timed and unbalanced.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: As for additional sanctions that Congress is considering, the disproportionality of this agreement makes it more likely that Democrats and Republicans will join together and pass additional sanctions when we return in December. I intend to discuss that possibility with my colleagues.
REP. MIKE ROGERS (R), MICHIGAN: And what we are finally starting to do is start to impact the elite in Iran. The business class of Iran, finally, we were getting to the place that was actually going to really bite and they were going to have to make a determination. Is a nuclear weapon worth the disruption of our country financially? What they have just done is stop the second round.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Yes -- a big divide.
The deal with Iran is far from perfect. But it is a step forward -- that according to foreign affairs expert Fareed Zakaria. Fareed is of course a great resource for us to have besides the being the host of CNN's globally watched, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS", he is a columnist and the editor-at-large for "Time" magazine and Fareed is also a highly regarded author and he serves on several boards, including at Yale University. Today he is sharing his position on this Iranian deal and why some of his critics -- some of the critics, are wrong.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": If you are trying to decide what to think about the deal struck between the major powers and Iran, here is a suggestion. Imagine what would have happened had there been no deal. In fact one doesn't have to use much imagination.
In 2003 Iran approached the United States with an offer to talk about its nuclear program. The Bush administration rejected the offer because it believed that the Iranian regime was weak, had been battered by sanctions, and would either capitulate or collapse if Washington just stayed tough. So there was no deal.
What was the result? Iran had 164 centrifuges operating in 2003. Today it has 19,000. Had the Geneva talks with Iran broken down this week, Iran would have continued expanding its nuclear program. Yes, they are now under tough sanctions, but they were under sanctions then as well. And yet the number of centrifuges grew exponentially. Despite all of the sanctions keep in mind the cost of a nuclear program are small for an oil-rich country like Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has been opposed to a deal. But is it in the Israel's interest that Iran's program keep growing in the size and scope. It's a strategy that assumes either Iran is headed for collapse or that a military strike will take place that would permanently destroy Iran's entire nuclear program and it wouldn't get rebuilt. This seems more like wishful thinking than strategy.
The agreement that the major powers have gotten in Geneva essentially freezes Iran's programs for six months and rolls back some key aspects of it while a permanent deal is negotiated. In return Iran gets about $7 billion of sanctions relief, a fraction of what is in place against it. The main sanctions against its oil and banking sectors stay fully in place.
This is a sensible deal signed off on by France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China, as well as the United States and Iran. But it's just an interim deal not a historical rapprochement. And that's why so much of the opposition to it is misplaced. Washington has many points of disagreement with Tehran. From its opposition to Israel and its support for Hezbollah to it's funding of Iraqi militia. This is not like Nixon's opening to China. It's more like an arms control deal with the Soviet Union two wary adversaries that are finding common ground.
Many countries in the Middle East from Israel to Saudi Arabia have legitimate concerns about Iran. But many of these countries have also gotten used to having a permanent enemy against whom they could rail, focusing domestic attention, driving ideological or sectarian divides, garnering support. The Middle East is undergoing so much change, perhaps this is one more change. Perhaps Iran will eventually come in from the cold. For now, though, it's just one step not a seismic shift. But it is a step forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS"; it airs every Sunday at 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time right here on CNN.
My next two guests are going to tackle this deal with Iran. And while I doubt that they'll agree with each other, they both want to convince you their position is right.
And then just ahead Black Friday, they're already lining up and camping out but you can still score an amazing deal. That's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: The deal's negotiated; Iran has agreed to limits on its nuclear program but the question is, is this just good for the short term or is it a sign of real change. With me, two men with perhaps differing views, we will see, on this agreement: Foreign policy adviser and former U.S. diplomat Ramin Asgard and Aaron David Miller, the vice president for new initiatives at the Woodrow Wilson International Center. Thank you both gentlemen for being with us tonight.
AARON DAVID MILLER, WOODROW WILSON INTERNATIONAL CENTER: Thank you.
RAMIN ASGARD, FOREIGN POLICY ADVISOR, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: Pleasure.
SAVIDGE: The first question and let me ask -- Aaron let me though this out to you first. Did you think it's a good for the U.S.
AARON DAVID MILLER, WOODROW WILSON INTERNATIONAL CENTER: You know I think it is less catastrophic than its critics allege and not nearly as compelling and reassuring as the administration believes.
SAVIDGE: Right.
MILLER: The reality is life in diplomacy is about choosing between imperfect options. This is an imperfect option. It is designed to test the possibility that a military option, which is where we're headed, assuming Iran acquires a break-out capacity, can be avoided in a comprehensive agreement. This is an interim first step. A comprehensive agreement can be obtained. That's the logic of the agreement. I think it's a reasonable chance to take.
I just do not see the pot of gold here at the end of the rainbow. I think both sides --
SAVIDGE: All right. Well, let me just --
MILLER: -- both sides just won't do ultimately what needs to be done in order to reach a comprehensive agreement.
SAVIDGE: Ramin, you know, we already know this deal is not going over well with some of our allies specifically Israel and Saudi Arabia. What do you take on this?
ASGARD: Well, on that score, it's obviously -- the deal has to also be palatable and sold back in Tehran. And they're going -- they have the same types of considerations of long standing feelings towards the outside world long standing feelings on this issue.
And that dynamic that we're seeing played out in Washington and London and elsewhere about regarding whether the deal is good or bad represents a good compromise, a hope for the future or mistake -- that same kind of thing is playing out inside Iran. So, you know, it is a deal that is a positive step forward as many folks have said. However, it's way too early to tell what the long-term impact of the deal is going to be.
SAVIDGE: And that begs question, where are we going to be six months from now on this?
MILLER: You know, I wouldn't bet my mortgage, but I would argue that you're going to end up either with additional negotiations or another interim agreement. And I think in this time I believe is an enemy of American interests on this issue and perhaps an ally of Iran. Because if the interim deal is essentially more sanctions relief for chipping away at another aspect of the Iranian nuclear program, you can you see where this is going.
At the end of the day, Martin, I think there is no way for us to do anything more than to put additional time on the Iranian clock and to separate Iran from its search for a nuclear weapons capacity. So highly imperfect -- clearly a process worth joining given the alternative.
SAVIDGE: Ramin, you know, one of the arguments that has been put forward here is that it's kind of offering the carrot to Iran and that getting sort of a taste of this, that they will want more and thereby agree to more concessions. Do you buy into that?
ASGARD: Well, absolutely. I mean the thing to keep in mind is this is a compromise agreement reached between a number of countries with divergent interests who are also cognizant of the interests of their allies. So obviously it is a compromise. It is not going to be viewed as perfect by any party. Having everything you want out of compromise is probably not a compromise.
So while again, I agree with the fact that it is still early and that it is not something that reaches all the goals that we, you know, perhaps the U.S. or the P5 plus 1 negotiating side may have hoped to attain. It really does reach pretty much the core goals and so it's, again, a positive step forward that represents a compromise. Not any one side dominating the argument or dominating the outcome.
SAVIDGE: Ramin Asgard and Aaron David Miller, thank you both. We appreciate it.
MILLER: Thank you Martin.
SAVIDGE: Thank you.
ASGARD: Thank you.
SAVIDGE: Tonight, it is a battle between two great quarter backs. If you love football, this is your night and our Rachel Nichols is there. Rachel, going to be cold.
RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS: Absolutely. And the weather is actually already affecting this game. We will tell you how and how the stars are still going to come out tonight after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: One of the biggest games in the NFL season is about to kick off in Foxboro, Massachusetts. The New England Patriots taking on the Denver Broncos. That is Tom Brady versus Peyton Manning, if you didn't know. And it's a real must-see game for any NFL fan.
CNN's Rachel Nichols is live inside the Gillette Stadium. And Rachel, why don't you just explain it to us, why is this game so important?
NICHOLS: Yes. It's a rivalry between quarterbacks in the NFL that we really haven't seen in a long time. And you have the most popular position in the most popular game in the country. And the history between these guys is so great; tonight is the 14th time that they are meeting.
And for even people who are just casual football fans, they're both a lot of fun to watch. First of all, they're just good at playing football so you get to see a lot of athletic pyrotechnics. But they are both also very canny strategists. So it becomes this really incredible chess game on this field behind with them both sending out their minions in all directions. And it's fun to see that unfold throughout the night.
So far Tom Brady has 9-4 advantage on Peyton Manning in these match- ups. And Manning is the first one to tell you just how good Brady is. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PEYTON MANNING, DENVER BRONCOS: I think it is pretty well documented, you know, my respect for Tom, as a quarterback. The way he prepares; just the way he's better kind of each season than he was the year before.
TOM BRADY, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: Well, he is a tough guy. So he played through everything and, you know, it's a big game for both teams. You got to expect the best players and I'm sure all those guys will be ready to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NICHOLS: You know we love these one-on-one personality match-ups in sports -- right -- Magic Johnson versus Larry Bird; Muhammad Ali versus Joe Frazier. You don't really get those in the NFL that often because by nature, it's such a team game so when you do have a rivalry between prominent players develop like this over the years, it is something everybody just feels they've got to watch.
SAVIDGE: Yes, absolutely. And I hate to state the obvious, but it looks pretty cold.
NICHOLS: Yes. Can you tell, from all of this going on right here?
SAVIDGE: Yes, I think so.
NICHOLS: It is approaching about eight degrees wind chill and we've got wind gusts up to 40 miles an hour. It is already affecting what is going on, on the field behind me. They had planned a big ceremony pre- game with a giant American flag as part of a month-long honoring of American servicemen. They've unfortunately just cancelled that. They are too worried about the wind.
Last week a game in Buffalo, they were doing to similar thing and the flag ripped because of high wind. They don't want to risk that happening here. And then we will see how the wind affects both of these teams during the game.
Peyton Manning does not have the best record in cold weather, despite the fact that plays in the city of Denver right now. He spent most of his career playing in Indianapolis where they have a dome. So this is going to be an interesting test for him when the temperature drops below 32 degrees, and trust me, it is way below 32 degrees right now. His record is to actually 3-7. So it is going to be cold. It is going to test him. His Broncos are a favorite tonight. But we will have to see if the weather plays a part.
SAVIDGE: Which team needs this game the most, by the way?
NICHOLS: You know, it is hard to say at this point in the season. They are both doing well. So this isn't going to make or break them if they win or lose but you do get into a strategy game with play off positioning. Both of these teams would like home field advantage in the post season. They'd both like first week buy in the playoffs. And who wins this game could influence which one of these team gets it.
You know Peyton Manning joked earlier this week that it is strange, these big Peyton Manning-Tom Brady match-ups, most of them seem to happen here in Foxboro. That has been because the Patriots have been able to position themselves a little bit better during the regular season to host the post season match-ups so they're going to want to do that again tonight.
SAVIDGE: It is going to be a terrific match-up. And Rachel, please get yourself warmed up before that big game. Thank you.
NICHOLS: Thanks.
SAVIDGE: Well, just because you can't camp out for days or even weeks like some of these people have been doing, that shouldn't mean that you miss out on all of the great Black Friday deals. The secret to getting these deals on-line, next.
Also, comedian George Wallace says he has got your prescription for stress, family squabbles, holiday traffic -- he says, "Laff It Off".
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: I don't know if you have noticed this but Black Friday's frenzy is being diluted by retailers who keep moving up the date. They seem to be saying, why wait for the profits to roll in when they can go chase them down. So forget tradition. Holiday sales have already started.
And everybody wants a bargain. Even if that means camping out for days just to be the first in line when those doors swing open.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's better to be first in line than to be last, and wondering when you go to get something that you really want.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is just absolutely crazy. I know they do it every year and every year I say the exact same thing. It is just crazy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So I went and sat in the tent. I mean, it's not even next weekend.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: Are you looking for the best deal? I mean, who isn't? The founder and editor in chief of bradsdeals.com joins us now from Chicago to tell us where to look. Brad Wilson, you put out your top 25 Black Friday deals. So what stands out this year? And welcome, by the way.
BRAD WILSON, FOUNDER OF BRADSDEAL.COM: Thanks, martin. Welcome. Wal- mart is the big winner. The first three items on my list are actually all from there this year. Part of that is policy driven. They are introducing a concept called guaranteed availability. So even if they sell out, they will give you a card guaranteeing you the right to have that item shipped to you prior to Christmas. It removes a lot of the risk that we have seen in Black Friday. So they are on the top three. Lots of other stores are represented well though. SAVIDGE: I mean that is one of the things that always troubles us is that people fight to get in to get that deal. That would seem to diffuse it somewhat. How do you compile these deals?
WILSON: One of the great things about Black Friday is we all collectively have this information so far in advance as consumers. It is one day in a year where the playing field is level and we are not just reacting. At Brad's deals, we actually have the full Friday ad circulars that are traditionally in the newspaper. We have them online for really a week or so, and just doing a lot of research trying to objectively and subjectively determine what the best deals are.
SAVIDGE: And here's the question that's been creeping into my mind and that is can you find equally good deals on the internet and avoid, you know, all the crowds, all the problems, as you can, if you showed up in that store in person?
WILSON: Absolutely. So not only are brick and mortar retailers doing very aggressive promotions on line, you also have amazon.com, overstock.com. All the online stores who are increasingly trying to get a piece of the black Friday pie. I think you can certainly get everybody's good of a deal staying home in the case of Chicago, staying warm. So you know, it is not something that you need to venture out for.
SAVIDGE: Well, some people love to do it. It is just tradition anyway. But let me ask you this, as far as deals, how is this year shaping up to other holiday seasons?
WILSON: It's shaping up pretty well. Let me give you a couple of examples. So we're seeing and one of the best deals is on an iPad mini. It's basically $199. Is it is $299 plus $100 credit to Wal-Mart. That's the first time we have ever seen an iPad under $200 by a wide margin. There's a 32-inch flat screen TV for $98 which is hard to beat, for sure. That's guaranteed availability. There's also an iPhone for less than 0. So you make actually $30 in a sense. You pay 45, and you get a $75 Walmart gift card. So these are the lowest prices we've ever seen on these products and these are popular items. You know, it's a big, step down in price from last year. So, from a consumer standpoint, we are doing a pretty good job this year.
SAVIDGE: All right. Brad Wilson, you are making me want to go home, put on my ugliest holiday sweater and venture out to go find these great deals. We should point out that the name of the website is bradsdeals.com. He joins us from Chicago. Have a great holiday, by the way.
WILSON: Thanks, Martin. You too.
SAVIDGE: Next Sunday is expected to be the busiest travel day of the year. With about 2.5 million joining you as you fly to wherever you may have to go. Wintery weather in Texas though already is forcing 300 flight cancellations. That's just today. And that, of course, has a domino effect across the country. And all of that is moving east. Atlanta's airport is the busiest in the world. Anyone who has been at Atlanta's airport already knows how packed it can be. Thousands of planes and people pass through everyday. But what else happened at the world's busiest airport? Well, CNN takes a look and runs the numbers.
(VIDEO CLIP)
SAVIDGE: I find that fascinating. Well, if you want more inside looks at the world's busiest airport. Go to cnn.com/atl24 to see everything that our reporters had found.
He was the face of the United States during the negotiations with Iran over the country's - that country's nuclear program. But what happens behind the scenes? We'll get a rare inside look, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SAVIDGE: The late night deal with Iran yielded all smiles for the cameras but behind the scenes, don't you want to really know what's going on? I mean I would love to have a glass just in the wall of that room to hear and I'm not saying that our foreign affairs reporter Elise Labott has done that, but she is joining us on the phone and she is the next best thing to getting insight to the closed-door meetings. Thank you very much for joining us, Elise.
ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTS: Thanks for having me, martin.
SAVIDGE: So what is said? Not publicly, what is going on in those sessions? What are they talking about?
LABOTT: Well, I mean, obviously we have seen a lot of criticism from Congress about this deal not being tough enough. But you know, sources familiar with the U.S., these talks say the U.S. held a tough line until the end. Holding out for even some of the stronger language in the agreement that their European counterparts are willing to accept and they feel the agreement does answer those concerns.
I'm told the Iranians were very tough negotiators, really trying to hold out for more latitude with their nuclear program. But on Saturday morning, Secretary Kerry sat down for a private meeting with the foreign minister and said, "Listen, Congress is just not going to accept that. They are beating down our neck with new sanctions. So let's get this deal done." So all through Saturday, the U.S. and Iran went back and forth on the final details of agreement and Secretary Kerry called President Obama late Saturday and the president himself signed off on that final agreement. The U.S. again, very, really trying to say that the U.S. really addressed the concerns that they wanted to. And they think it's a strong agreement.
SAVIDGE: OK. So there were some hard bargaining that was going on. Hang tight for a minute because I want to play part of Candy Crowley's interview with Secretary of State John Kerry late last night, just moments after the deal was reached. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: One of the points that the Israelis and others who have been unhappy about these negotiations have made, is that there a difference between halting a march toward nuclear capability and actually dismantling the mechanisms you need to build nuclear bombs.
Here you have halted it but not dismantled it.
JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Absolutely. Of course.
CROWLEY: What do you say this morning to the Saudis, to the Israelis, who will say that they feel less safe that Israel in fact is threatened?
KERRY: Well, Israel is threatened by what has been going on in Iran. But I believe that from this day, for the next six months, Israel is in fact safer than it was yesterday because we now have a mechanism by which we are going to expand the amount of time in which they can break out rather than narrow it. We are going to have insights to their program that we didn't have before. We are going to have a destruction of the 20 percent enrichment. We are going to have a limitation on the low enrichment of 3.5 percent. We're going to have a limitation on the building and installation, of centrifuges. I mean, Israeli, if you didn't have these things would be seeing Iran continue on a daily basis to narrow the break out time, to continue to do the things that it's been doing. So I believe that Israel, in fact, will be safer, providing we made sure that these sanctions don't get lifted in a way that reduces the pressure on Iran and we don't believe they will be.
There's very little sanctions relief here. And the basic architecture in the sanctions, stays in place. So we believe very strongly that because the Iranian nuclear program is actually set backwards, and is actually locked into place in critical places, that that is better for Israel than if you were just continuing to go down the road and they rush towards a nuclear weapon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: And there you can see the secretary of state basically giving the hard sell of why this is a good deal. We got foreign affairs reporter Elise Labott on the telephone and she is with us still. That was at midnight Eastern time, I should point out when that was recorded. That's 6:00 a.m. in Geneva. On top of that then the Secretary of State had other interviews. And then he moved on - I believe he's gone to London. So how does he keep this kind of schedule?
LABOTT: Well, Martin, this is the fifth secretary of state I've covered. Everyone has their own travel style, we like to say. Some like to just go out and get the business done and come home. Most recently, secretary of state Hillary Clinton traveled a lot. Packed it in when she was on the road. But Secretary Kerry, also we call him the ever-ready bunny. He really - I would say he equates motion with power motion. So he is often on the road. He believes in that face-to-face diplomacy. You know, but that has mixed results sometimes. In the case of Iran, I think his personal involvement, hat willingness t stay up all night, roll up his sleeves, really helps seal the deal. But he has been working a lot in the Middle East peace process for instance. He has made half a dozen trips to Israel doing the old fashion shuttle diplomacy. We haven't see much progress there.
But you know, one thing for sure is that journalists with him like to joke, that if we are planning for a two-day trip, it can end up being a week or more. So you often have to pack extra clothes and often we are staying up until 2 or 3:00 in the night with some of these negotiations. It really never end.
SAVIDGE: Yes, You know. I mean, pack the No-doz, no doubt about it.
LABOTT: Right.
SAVIDGE: You pointed out that Hillary Clinton, of course, became most famously, the most traveled secretary of state ever. Secretary Kerry spends a lot of time traveling as well. What about the styles of how they work?
LABOTT: I think that Secretary Clinton wanted to did a lot of things. I think in a lot of ways she redefined the job and some are issues that she worked on. She did work on Iran or Syria or the Middle East peace process in some ways but she also tried to expand that to do a lot on women's rights, food, security. Other types of things that she called 21st century diplomacy, if you will.
In terms of some of the new threats that are facing in the world. Secretary Kerry has a few issues that are very important to him. Obviously the Middle East peace process is one of them and then some of these harder issues like Iran, Syria, really wants to be there, having those meetings. Getting down in the dirt with these line by line going over these negotiations line by line.
And he wants to be where the action is. And he thinks, you know, that his personal diplomacy, it's a lot. He is a senator for 29 years. And I think he still has that mentality in terms of he's the one that, if he is in the room, he's going to get the job done. And that's why I think, I think he's been on the road slightly more than he's been back in Washington.
SAVIDGE: Right. He clearly is a man who likes to work the deal. About 30 seconds. How is s this job, secretary of state, different than what it used to be?
LABOTT: Well, I think you have the 24-hour news cycle. That's not only in terms of journalists working and the social media and everything, but that just puts everything into a much bigger spotlight. And you need to show results quicker. You need to have statements much more and you know, that world is reacting in an instant. I think the kind of old fashion, you know, diplomacy behind closed doors, maybe lent itself to a little bit more results. Now it lends itself to a lot more talking points.
SAVIDGE: It does indeed. Elise Labott, thanks very much for the insight. Fascinating to hear it from your point of view.
This holiday week as your family comes to you and your home or maybe you go to theirs. Comedian George Wallace may have the best advice on how to survive some of those difficult moments. That's next.
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SAVIDGE: Getting paid to be funny, it has to be one of the hardest ways to earn a living in this world. A lot of comedians though turn the day's headlines into their punch lines, like Obamacare, the weather, you name it.
Comedian George Wallace has a new book and it's called "Laugh It Off," saying it's important to live your life looking for the humor. Earlier, we talked about why he wrote it.
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GEORGE WALLACE, COMEDIAN: Laughter is the best medicine in the world.
SAVIDGE: OK. And now that you brought it up, that medicine is going to be direly needed this week, of course, with the holiday travel mixing with what is looking like a really nasty weather system. So what do you think of all this?
WALLACE: Well, first of all, I'm in New York City and it's really cold here. It's really cold. You know the kids that walk around with the pants hanging off their butt? They got them up today. They got them up today. It is cold here. They got this thing going around called butt- monia. It's really cold.
It's this time of the year and all the people traveling. Now, you know, You know every Thanksgiving there's going to be a snowstorm. Go ahead and leave early. You got to be thinking - say it here, I be thinking. Do that.
SAVIDGE: Pack plenty of patience and keep a sense of humor as you're standing there in, I don't know, three inches of ice.
WALLACE: Laughter is the greatest medicine in the world. You know what's good about laughter? It's free medicine also. It's free. I'm teaching people how to keep it in the reach of children. You know, exercise your funny bone. If you start laughing and you laugh over four hours, call your doctor. And give your doctor the prescription so he can laugh, too. It is so good to laugh. You need to get this book because there's something here for everybody. I'm teaching, Martin, young people how to travel to other countries while they're young.
SAVIDGE: And you're shamelessly also holding that book up. But you brought up medicine. So this is a perfect segue to get into Obamacare. What's your take on everything that people are talking about? They almost seem obsessed with it.
WALLACE: Well, what we were talking about the Affordable Care Act. And I think everybody deserves it. I know it's good. You know why I know it's good? Because who has the best health care in America? Congress. Congress. Now, you work for me. I pay your benefits and you don't want me to have what you have. I think everybody deserves great health care. Even prisoners get great health care, free health care.
SAVIDGE: What do you think of all the criticism? President Obama certainly has taken a ton of heat on what was going to be a showcase for his administration.
WALLACE: Martin, when they first started social security - you know, you were living back then. It didn't work when that first started. Medicare didn't work when that first started. Let's give it a chance. Let's get together instead of knocking it, I would like all the congressmen to get together and say what can we do to make this work? What can we do for the people? We're not doing anything right now. Congress is just in total disarray right now. They're doing nothing. I was talking to President Barack Obama. He came to Las Vegas not too long ago. He's a good friend of mine, I love him. He says to me "You look a lot younger since the last time I saw you." I wanted to say to him, "I wish I could say the same thing about you."
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SAVIDGE: I don't know if you caught on, but he has a book out, just in case you missed that. George Wallace, great to talk with him.
Moving on. We've all heard the cynical phrase really that no good deed goes unpunished. Sometimes good deeds do get rewarded. A homeless man right here in Atlanta did the right thing. Just ahead, you will see what happened, next.
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SAVIDGE: A $100,000 reward is being offered tonight to find the killer of a postal worker in Landover, Maryland. The sheriff's office says 26-year-old Tyson Jerome Barnett was making his rounds last night when he was shot to death. No motive has been given for the attack. Postal official say murders of its employees are rare but he Postal Workers Union is calling for more safety precautions as more deliveries are being made at night.
Then there's this - a father and son in Long Island, New York, are accused of trying to cheat a lottery winner out of his million-dollar prize. Police say that they own a deli grocery where they gave a customer $1,000 for his winning ticket. That ticket was actually worth $1 million. When the winner became suspicious and returned, they allegedly offered him $10,000 not to go to the police. Well, he went to the police. The men were arraigned yesterday on larceny charges.
And if you ever or do ever find a stranger's wallet, take it from this man. Turn it in. Joel Hartman is homeless. He was hungry and looking for food in a dumpster in Atlanta yesterday when he came across a tourist's wallet. Hartman walked to four different hotels before discovering the owner was staying at the Omni Hotel. That happens to be right here at CNN Center. For his good deed, the manager put Hartman up at the hotel through the Thanksgiving holiday. He was also treated to room service and $500. That is a very nice way to end the news. I'm Martin Savidge. Dr. Sanjay Gupta's special report "Weed" begins right now.
