Obama: Gap Between Parties May Be 'Too Wide' for a Grand Bargain on Budget

Obama: Gap Between Parties May Be 'Too Wide' for a Grand Bargain on Budget (ABC News)

In an exclusive interview with ABC News, President Obama spoke on a range of high-profile issues, including his outlook for the on-going budget negotiations, whether the Chinese government is behind the recent spate of cyberattacks against U.S. companies, North Korea's nuclear threats, same-sex marriage, and the conclave to select the next pope.

Obama Pessimistic About Grand Bargain Before Meetings With GOP Lawmakers

Before meetings with GOP lawmakers in the House and Senate today and Thursday, President Obama signaled pessimism about the prospect of reaching a grand bargain in the ongoing budget negotiations. He said there is not an "immediate debt" crisis and that, ultimately, there might just be too much space between the two parties to reach a deal.

"Ultimately, it may be that the differences are just too wide. It may be that, ideologically, if their position is, 'We can't do any revenue,' or, 'We can only do revenue if we gut Medicare or gut Social Security or gut Medicaid,' if that's the position, then we're probably not going to be able to get a deal," the president told me.

"That won't … create a crisis," he said. "It just means that we will have missed an opportunity. I think that opportunity is there and I'm going to make sure that they know that I'm prepared to work with them. But, ultimately, it may be better if some Democratic and Republican Senators work together."

Examining the Possibility of Restoring Some White House Tours

"What I'm asking them is are there ways, for example, for us to accommodate school groups … who may have traveled here with some bake sales. Can we make sure that - kids, potentially, can … stillcome to tour?" he said.

"But… I'm always amused when people on the one hand say, the sequester doesn't mean anything and the administration's exaggerating its effects; and then whatever the specific effects are, they yell and scream and say, 'Why are you doing that?'" he said. "Well, there are consequences to Congress not having come up with a more sensible way to reduce the deficit."

Obama Publicly Declared for the First Time Chinese Gov't Behind Cyberattacks

"Well, I think [we] always have to be careful [about] war analogies. Because, you know, there's a big difference between them engaging in cyberespionage or cyber attacks and, obviously, a hot war. What is absolutely true is that we have seen a steady ramping up of cybersecurity threats. Some are state sponsored. Some are just sponsored by criminals," he told me.

I asked him to clarify that some were indeed state sponsored.

"Absolutely," he responded.

North Korea's Nuclear Ambitions

I asked the president whether he believed North Korea could now make good on its threats of nuclear action against South Korea and the United States.

"They probably can't, but we don't like margin of error," he began.

But when pressed on whether it was really that close, the president rephrased his response.

"It's not that close. But what is true is … they've had nuclear weapons since well before I came into office. What's also true is missile technology improves and their missile technology has improved," he said.

"Now, what we've done is we've made sure that we've got defensive measures to prevent any attacks on the homeland. And we're not anticipating any of that. But we've seen out of the North Koreans is they go through these periodic spasms of … provocative behavior."

I asked the president whether he believes such recent threats are more serious than previous threats.

"Well, I don't necessarily think it's different in kind. They've all been serious. Because when you're talking about a regime that is oppressive towards its people, is belligerent, has shown itself to sometimes miscalculate and do things that are very dangerous, that's always a problem. "

He 'Couldn't Imagine Circumstances' in Which a State Ban on Same-Sex Marriage Was Constitutional

Before the Supreme Court arguments on same-sex marriage scheduled for the end of the month, I asked the president whether he still believed that the issue was best left to the states, or whether he thinks same-sex marriage was a right guaranteed by the Constitution.

"Well, I've got to tell you that, in terms of practical politics, what I've seen is a healthy debate taking place state by state, and not every state has the exact same attitudes and cultural mores," he said. "What I also believe is that the core principle that people don't get discriminated against, that's one of our core values. And it's in our Constitution."

The president said he personally could not see a scenario in which a state has a legal justification for banning same-sex marriage.

"What I believe is that if the states don't have a good justification for it, then it probably doesn't stand up to constitutional muster," he said.

I asked: Can you imagine one?

"Well, I can't, personally. I cannot. That's part of the reason I said, ultimately, I think that … same-sex couples should be able to marry," he told me.

Obama Rejected Concerns that a U.S. Pope Would Be Too Closely Aligned With U.S. Gov't

Turning across the Atlantic to the papal conclave happening this week, President Obama rejected the notion held by some cardinals that a U.S. pope would be too closely aligned with the U.S. government, an argument frequently used against U.S. cardinals who might be considered contenders for the papacy.

"I guarantee you … the conference of Catholic bishops here in the United States don't seem to be taking orders from me," he said.

"I, my hope is, based on what I know about the Catholic Church and the terrific work that they've done around the world."

The full interview will air tonight on "Nightline," and will also be available on Yahoo! as part of our on-going newsmakers series.

Read the Transcript of My Interview With President Obama Here.

Related: Obama Says Partisan Divide Might be Too Great for Budget Deal

Related: Obama Says There is No Debt Crisis

Related: Obama Weighs In on White House 'Tourgate'

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FACT CHECK: A tired old gun stat still in service

FILE - In this March 6, 2013 file photo, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, left, listens to her husband Mark Kelly, right, during a return to the supermarket where she was wounded in a rampage two years ago in Tucson, Ariz. Kelly went to a Tucson gun store a week ago to buy a .45-caliber handgun and a military-style rifle the day before the appearance. It didn't take long for the purchase to draw criticism from gun-rights supporters. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

FILE – In this Feb. 13, 2013 file photo Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., right, talks with the committee's ranking Republican Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa on Capitol Hill in Washington. A divided Senate Judiciary Committee approved a Democratic bill Tuesday expanding required federal background checks to nearly all gun purchases, giving President Barack Obama an early victory on curbing gun violence in a fight that still faces difficult odds. The vote was 10-8, with all Democrats supporting the measure and every Republican opposing it. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Even in its heyday, the statistic wasn't the kind you could count on.

A finding that 30 percent to 40 percent of guns changed hands outside the background-check system was, at best, a rough guide post in the murky gun-ownership universe.

At least it was fresh.

Now it's old and surely very tired. But President Barack Obama, some Democratic lawmakers, a coalition of mayors and others arguing for expanded background checks won't let that statistic rest in peace.

To hear them talk, you'd think it was born yesterday, rather than 20 years ago.

OBAMA, on Jan. 16: "It's time for Congress to require a universal background check for anyone trying to buy a gun. The law already requires licensed gun dealers to run background checks.... But it's hard to enforce that law when as many as 40 percent of all gun purchases are conducted without a background check."

MAYORS AGAINST ILLEGAL GUNS, a coalition favoring tighter gun controls, on Tuesday: "Around 40 percent of U.S. gun transfers are conducted by unlicensed 'private sellers' who are not required to conduct a federal check, and who often do business at gun shows and on the Internet."

NEW YORK MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, Dec. 17: "Congress should pass the Fix Gun Checks Act, which would close the 'private sale loophole' that allows more than 40 percent of gun sales to go through without a background check."

REP. DAVID CICILLINE, D-R.I., Jan. 26: "More than 40 percent of sales nationally are made without background checks."

VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN, Jan. 17: "Because of the lack of the ability of federal agencies to be able to even keep records, we can't say with absolute certainty what I'm about to say is correct. But the consensus is about 40 percent of the people who buy guns today do so outside the ... background check system."

THE FACTS:

Biden stands alone here in acknowledging he may be saying something that isn't right.

A 1996 law pushed by the gun-rights lobby closed the spigot on federal gun research, leaving scholars, private groups and states to pick up some pieces. Only now, under a recent order by Obama, can federally financed research resume.

So it's no wonder policymakers are grasping at shreds of moldy data. But they're not owning up to the true vintage of their information or the shortcomings that made it questionable at the time.

The claims that gun sales made without background checks comprise "more than," ''as many as," ''nearly" or "about" 40 percent of all gun sales are rooted in a poll looking broadly at gun ownership in America. Sponsored by the Justice Department through a grant to the Police Foundation, the poll's principal relevance today is as a snapshot of the way things were when it was taken, namely 1994.

The research reported on the nature of gun acquisitions made in 1993 and 1994, asking people who had obtained guns then where the guns had come from and whether they thought the source was a federally licensed dealer. Transactions through licensed dealers were considered covered by the background check system, which was just then coming into effect.

Although the survey interviewed more than 2,500 Americans, just 251 had acquired guns during that time frame, a small sampling from which to make a general conclusion.

In all, 64 percent of those respondents reported acquiring a gun from a source they thought to be a licensed dealer, suggesting that 36 percent of gun acquisitions were in the secondary and unregulated market.

But the study's researchers found considerable ambiguity and some apparent contradictions in the responses. The poll relied, in part, on people's best guess about whether a seller was licensed.

With a clear picture eluding them, the researchers estimated 30 percent to 40 percent of the acquisitions were off the books and would not have been subjected to a background check.

Only 4 percent of gun sales were thought to have come through gun shows or flea markets. That's just a corner of the market, but a main concern today for those who want to expand background checks to close the "gun-show loophole," as Obama's proposals would do.

More than 17 percent of guns acquired in 1993 and 1994 came from a family member, according to the poll. This source of weapons would remain largely unregulated in pending Senate legislation calling for expanded checks.

Discounting family acquisitions, the percentage of gun transactions eluding background checks would be considerably less.

In contending that 40 percent of gun transfers are conducted by private sellers, often "at gun shows and on the Internet," the mayors stretched a thin claim even thinner in their statement Tuesday.

They cited the same old study as everyone else, one done well before the spread of online commerce. The study considered purchases by mail order, 3 percent of reported gun acquisitions, but makes no mention of online transactions.

___

AP Polling Director Jennifer Agiesta and Associated Press writer Alan Fram contributed to this report.

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Online:

Police Foundation Guns in America survey: http://www.policefoundation.org/content/guns-america

EDITOR'S NOTE _ An occasional look at political claims that take shortcuts with the facts or don't tell the full story

Prosecutor: Ohio school rape victim didn't consent

Trent Mays, 17, arrives for the start of his trial in juvenile court, where he and Ma'lik Richmond, 16, face rape charges on Wednesday, March 13, 2013 in Steubenville, Ohio. Mays and Richmond are accused of raping a 16-year-old West Virginia girl last August 2012 (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, Pool)

Ma'lik Richmond, 16, arrives for the start of his trial in juvenile court, where he and Trent Mays, 17, face rape charges on Wednesday, March 13, 2013 in Steubenville, Ohio. Richmond and Mays are accused of raping a 16-year-old West Virginia girl last August 2012. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, Pool)

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio (AP) — A "substantially impaired" 16-year-old girl was unable to consent to sex and suffered humiliation and degradation when she was raped by two high school football playersafter an alcohol-fueled party, a prosecutor said Wednesday at the start of a trial that's drawn international attention to a small, football-loving city in eastern Ohio.

The first day of the juvenile trial became a contest between prosecutors determined to show the girl was so drunk she couldn't have been a willing participant that night, and defense attorneys soliciting comments from witnesses that would indicate that the girl, though drunk, knew what she was doing.

The case has divided the community amid allegations that more students should have been charged and led to questions about the influence of the local football team, a source of a pride in a community that suffered massive job losses with the collapse of the steel industry.

Steubenville High School football players Trent Mays and Ma'Lik Richmond both maintain their innocence. In his opening statement, Mays' attorney, Brian Duncan, said his 17-year-old client "did not rape the young lady in question." Richmond's attorney gave no opening statement.

Both teens are charged with digitally penetrating the West Virginia girl, first in the back seat of a moving car after a party Aug. 11 and then in the basement of a house. Mays is also charged with illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material.

In an excerpt of a videotaped interview with ABC's "20/20" that was posted Tuesday, Richmond said the photo was a joke. He contends the girl was awake and was a willing participant, according to the report.

The girl's level of inebriation quickly emerged as a key issue Wednesday.

Following opening statements, prosecutors presented two witnesses, 17-year-old girls who saw the girl the night of the party.

Elayna Andres, a Steubenville High School student, said the 16-year-old girl was having trouble walking but never appeared to pass out.

"She went over by the door and she stumbled, and that's when the boys picked her up," she said. "She was conscious but she couldn't lift her head."

The other teen, Julia Lefever, said she had never seen her friend so intoxicated. She said she and thealleged victim were drinking a blue slush ice drink they laced with vodka they brought to the party and her friend later drank a beer.

Jacob Howarth, 19, a former Steubenville high school student, testified about the alleged victim's demeanor at a small gathering at his house that night. Richmond's attorney, Walter Madison, pushed Howarth in a graphic line of questioning to confirm that when the girl vomited in his bathroom, she was able to use the toilet and not leave a mess.

"Being drunk doesn't mean you don't know what's going on, right?" Madison said.

On cross-examination, prosecutor Brian Deckert got Howarth to agree that the girl was "stumbling, with a blank expression, and swaying back and forth."

Under questioning from defense attorneys, witnesses also gave examples of the alleged victim turning down friends' offers of help and agreeing to go with the defendants.

Pat Pizzoferrato, 17, a Steubenville high school student, testified that he was shown a picture of the victim on her knees with her pants off with the defendants nearby. "I though they just had sex with her," he said when asked by Hemmeter what he thought the picture showed.

That picture was never found and isn't part of the evidence before Lipps.

If convicted, Mays and Richmond could be held in a juvenile jail until they turn 21.

The Associated Press normally does not identify minors charged in juvenile court, but Mays and Richmond have been widely identified in news coverage, and their names have been used in open court.

They were charged 10 days after the party, after a flurry of social media postings about the alleged attack led the girl and her family to go to police.

Steubenville officials have protested that outsiders have unfairly criticized police handling of the case and have given Steubenville a black eye. Officials created a website to counter misinformation about the case, disputing, for example, the allegation that the police department is full of ex-football players from the local powerhouse team, nicknamed Big Red.

Hacker activists have publicized tweets and other social media postings made the night of the alleged rape, including a 12-minute video in which one student joked about it while others in the background chimed in.

The National Organization of Women has demanded that student be charged under the state's failure to report law. Attorney General Mike DeWine has called the video disgusting but said the student didn't have firsthand knowledge of the alleged assaults.

Bob Fitzsimmons, a lawyer for the girl's family, said, "The family wants this matter over so they can move on with their lives and their daughter's healing."

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Associated Press writers Kantele Franko in Columbus and Vicki Smith in Morgantown, W.Va., contributed to this report.

Monarch butterflies drop ominously in Mexico

Exclusive: Iran steps up weapons lifeline to Assad - envoys

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran has significantly stepped up military support to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in recent months, solidifying its position alongside Russia as the government's lifeline in an increasingly sectarian civil war, Western diplomats said.

Iranian weapons continue to pour into Syria from Iraq but also increasingly along other routes, including via Turkey and Lebanon, in violation of a U.N. arms embargo on Iran, Western officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Iraqi and Turkish officials denied the allegations.

Iran's acceleration of support for Assad suggests the Syrian war is entering a new phase in which Iran may be trying to end the battlefield stalemate by redoubling its commitment to Assad and offering Syria's increasingly isolated government a crucial lifeline, the envoys said.

It also highlights the growing sectarian nature of the conflict, diplomats say, with Iranian arms flowing to the Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah. That group is increasingly active on the ground inSyria in support of Assad's forces, envoys say.

The Syrian conflict started out two years ago as a pro-democracy movement. Some 70,000 people have been killed and more than 1 million refugees have fled the violence.

A Western intelligence report seen by Reuters in September said Iran was using civilian aircraft to fly military personnel and large quantities of weapons across Iraqi airspace to aid Assad. Iraq denied that report but later made a point of inspecting an Iran-bound flight that it said had no arms on board.

Much of the weaponry going to Syria now, diplomats say, continues to be shipped to Iran through Iraqi airspace and overland through Iraq, despite Baghdad's repeated promises to put a stop to Iranian arms supplies to Assad in violation of a U.N. arms embargo on Tehran over its nuclear program.

"The Iranians really are supporting massively the regime," a senior Western diplomat said this week. "They have been increasing their support for the last three, four months through Iraq's airspace and now trucks. And the Iraqis really are looking the other way."

"They (Iran) are playing now a crucial role," the senior diplomat said, adding that Hezbollah was "hardly hiding the support it's giving to the (Syrian) regime."

He added that the Syrian civil war was becoming "more and more sectarian," with Sunnis - an increasing number of whom come from Iraq - battling Shi'ites and members of Assad's Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.

Ali al-Moussawi, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's media adviser, strongly denied the allegations, saying on Wednesday: "No, such a thing never happened. Weapons did not and will not be transferred from Iran to Syria through Iraq, whether by land or by air."

Russia, diplomats said, also remained a key arms supplier for Assad. Unlike Iran, neither Syria nor Russia is subject to a U.N. ban on arms trade and are therefore not in violation of any U.N. rules when conducting weapons commerce. But accepting Iranian arms would be a violation of the U.N. Iran sanctions.

Assad's ally Russia criticizes U.S., European and Gulf Arab governments for their aid to Syrian rebels seeking to topple Assad.

Russia has said repeatedly that its military support for Syria includes anti-missile air defense systems but no attack weapons such as helicopters.

Moscow says it is not wedded to Assad but that the rebels and government should talk and Assad's departure should not be a condition for a deal as the opposition and its supporters insist. Along with China, it has used its Security Council veto to block punitive U.N. measures against Syria's government.

ARMS SUPPLIES VIA TURKEY AND LEBANON?

Alireza Miryousefi, spokesman for Iran's U.N. mission, responded to a request for a comment by saying, "We believe Syria does not need any military help from Iran."

"Unfortunately the situation in Syria and the whole Middle East region is becoming more and more delicate and risky because of foreign interference and funneling of arms to the extremist groups," he said, repeating that Tehran wanted to end the conflict through dialogue between the government and opposition.

Syria's U.N. ambassador, Bashar Ja'afari, did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

The diplomats cited by Reuters made clear that the principal delivery route for arms to Syria still went through Iraq, despite the existence of alternative supply channels such as Turkish airspace. They also said that Iran Air and Mahan Air were well-known violators of the Iranian arms embargo.

Iran Air and Mahan Air were both mentioned in the intelligence report on Iranian arms shipments to Syria seen by Reuters in September. The U.S. Treasury Department has blacklisted Iran Air, Mahan Air and Yas Air for supporting the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

One Western diplomat cited intelligence reports from his country that a new avenue for sending arms to Syria went on occasion through Turkish airspace to Beirut and from there to Syria by truck. There was no suggestion, he said, that Turkish officials were aware of the illicit arms shipments.

Once in Syria, he said, the arms were distributed to government forces and allied militia, including Hezbollah.

"The equipment being transferred by both companies (Iran and Mahan Air) ... ranges from communications equipment to light arms and advanced strategic weapons, some of which are being used devastatingly by Hezbollah and the Syrian regime against the Syrian people," said the Western intelligence report.

"The more sophisticated gear includes parts for various hardware such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), shore-to-sea missiles and surface-to-surface ballistic missiles (SSMs)," the report said. "Other weapons are being used by Syrian security forces, pro-Assad shabbiha militiamen, and Lebanese Hezbollah."

There are about 5 tons of arms per flight, which are occurring on a near weekly basis, hidden in the bottom of the planes' fuselages, the report said, adding that arms cargo was removed separately after civilian cargo was unloaded.

Other Western officials confirmed the findings in the report.

A Turkish diplomatic source denied the allegation. "This is a very sensitive matter for Turkey, and we are very certain that this is baseless," the source told Reuters.

Turkey has intercepted Iranian arms shipments in the past and reported them to the U.N. Security Council's sanctions committee. Ankara's aggressive campaign to stamp out Iranian arms smuggling via its airspace, Western diplomats say, was what led Iran to begin using Iraqi airspace instead.

Lebanon's U.N. ambassador, Nawaf Salam, said he was not in a position to comment. An official at Beirut's airport who requested anonymity rejected the allegations of clandestine Iranian shipments going to Syria via Beirut airport.

Lebanon has had a complicated relationship with neighboring Syria. Its population is deeply divided over the conflict. U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon last week urged Lebanon, which is hosting hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees, to remain neutral.

(Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi in Ankara, Dominic Evans and others in Beirut, Mark Hosenball in Washington, Aseel Kami in Baghdad; Editing by Peter Cooney)

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