congressional member barbara lee and dr. fitzpatrick march 19th on google hangout. >> great conversation. see you next time. ♪ >> good evening, everyone. welcome to al jazeera america. >> person to person, hours after authorizing sanctions against russia, president obama spent an hour on the phone with putin. ukrainian divide, splitting from ukraine and sideing with russia. what you don't know about russian's president. >> rallying point, conservative

republicans are speaking out in washington with their eyes on the white house. >> marijuana as medicine, stopping seizures with canibus. >> we begin tonight with fast moving developments fuelling tensions between the east and the west. five days after russia seized parts of ukraine moscow is under the pressure to back off and the lawmakers in crimea want to be part of russia. president obama spenting an hour on the phone with putin and new sanctions are announced against russia. and secretary of state john

kerry looking for a diplomatic solution, and president obama announcing the sanctions and getting oen the phone with the russian president. mike? >> john, a surprise to see president obama suddenly appearing and coming after two days when the sek of state meeting with the russian counter parts and yesterday paris and today it is rome and no signs of progress in the public statements that we are seeing. the president talking once again about the need for monitors and putting in crimea and the violation of the integrity that putin's russia brought about in crimea. and then, a third call since the outset of the crisis last friday and over the weekend the president three calls and no indication that this is getting

any where and the white house is with the latest call an hour long call down to one paragraph and repeating the call for direct talks and the united states is calling for talks between russians and temporary caretakers of the ukrainian government in kiev and calling for monitors to be put in crimea and claims of attacks or danger and threats against the russians in crimea can be put to rest. and another big concern we have talked about this before, john, u.s. officials are bringing up the prospect of a russian invasion into eastern ukraine and another area dominated by the ethnic russians and warning against that. >> talk about the sanctions warned by the president today. >> yes, the president signed an executive order authorizing the sanctions. it is a distinction, they have not yet placed them on russian

and ukrainian individuals, this is ultimately the target who brought about what we have seen over the course of the last several days, visa bans, yes, they are in effect right away but there is a dance here between the united states and russia, of course, and bringing in the european yuunion and the big steps in white house, passing an aid package for ukraine and a bill dollars of aid going to ukraine. >> mike, at the white house, thank you, mike. >> sanctions can be a powerful to convince a government to change the policies but the question is whether or not that the sanctions are going to work. >> john, the restrictions on a trade and business activity

between countries at odds and the united states administered the sanctions back in october. the obama administration is responding to human rights abuses and political oppression in ukraine. the white house says that the sanctions announced today are imposed on the individual and entities now threatening ukraine's sovereignty, specific sanction targets are determined by the state and treasury departments and could be cancelling the visas and freezing the assets in the united states, and may also make it illegal for americans to do business with specific people. the white house is saying that the sanctions are apply to those misappropriating ukrainian assets. in other words, russia and some people in ukraine.

it is very complicated and it is a fluid situation. >> thank you, michele. the european union is saying it is suspended talks on economic agreement with russia. it is suspended talks on whether russian citizens should be allowed to travel to europe without a visa. >> ukraine is highly precarious and it could be spiralling out of control and there is a warning to president putin not to destabilize the situation further. the statement issued today is making it clear there will be far reaching consequences. the commission is looking at the travel bans and the freezing of russian assets. the leaders in europe and u.s. want russia to pull back from crimea but the prorussian

leaders are wanting to stay in crimea. jennifer? >> john, you know, prorussians here asked the united states and europe to stay out of their business and no more clear signal than tonight when the city council voted to november itself closer to russia and be a part of russia and be a subject of russia. this city has had always head close ties to russia. this is a very, very clear sign that it tends to do what it wants to do and come a day after the russian forces made it clear and keeping everyone guessing here. >> the abandoned buildings from the navy base are empty again. yesterday the russians were here.

what happened? where are they? >> maybe they -- i don't know. >> lieutenant commander says he has no idea what the russians are up to. maybe they'll be back he says. he's not blaming the men on the ground. they are just following the orders. i understand them. i don't feel that this the enemy for me. as done in some of the places in crimea, the russians left in the middle of the night and leaving just the garbage in the wage. they have left behind evidence, russians and medicine packs made in russia. >> excuse me, where are you from? no answer. even as some of the russian ground forces disappeared on the

sea a more az dressive stance, helicopters are circle. ukraine's top naval commanders are trapping in the headquarters for a 5th day. the crimean parliament is seeking to join russia. ukraine supreme court is saying that the referendum is illegal. >> crimea was if and will be a part of ukraine. >> the majority of people are ethnic russians here and welcomed the troops. but not all agree. a new ukrainian flag. >> we are raising it says the naval captain to showing them we are standing until the end. he disagrees with the crimean

parliament. >> the parliament was gathered under the machine guns. the people should be deciding. >> ukraine's navy is stranded in its own part and crimea is divided. john, it is unenclear tonight whether the division to become part of the russia is having immediate implicationed and the eyes are on the march 16th referend referendum. john? >> thank you, jennifer. there is more ahead, including the special report, what you don't know about putin and why he's worth billions and working with the kgb and the rise to

power, all ahead during the newscast. now, to another important story, there is new research out tonight on possible links because the super bowl and sex trafficking, the researchers studied the online advertising leading up to the super bowl in new jersey and found that two thousand of the ads were sex related and 820 of the ads involved victims of sex trafficking and 50 of them involving minors and they helped to track the vick tips and trends that seemed to be linked to the super bowl. the study concludes that the super bowl is a desirable location for traffickers to bring victims for commercial sex exploitation. and joining us now is cindy mccain and the wife of john mccain. cindy, welcome back. >> thank you. what are you making of this report? >> well, the mccain institute funded this report and because

we had no real data. we found that exactly what you said and more. these sex trafficking ads are orzed. it is a web of links go across the country and off shore. it is fascinating and frightening to read the data from it. >> you used the former intelligence officers to track the reports. >> they are fresh from the fields of afghanistan and iraq. they were, it was not only what they did is really good and helping in the long run as we track, as we do this on going. >> the online sex ads are illegal and where the law enforcement on this? >> they are agreeing with us. it is a very difficult and illegal entity that the people

are promoting online. the organizations like back page.com and others, we are not trying to shut them done, what we are trying to do encourage them to stop the adult services ads online. >> what's been the response to that? [laughter] they are not talking to us. >> you talked about nfl is last time you were here and you said before the nfl has not been really willing to deal with this issue, so is there any reaction from the nfl since the report came out? >> we had a very good meeting with the nfl and they are responding to the issue and they are understanding they have been involved and engaged on this. >> clearly the super bowl is just a symbol or representative of big events where this sort of thing happens, right? >> yes, the super bowl is just the catalyst. we are not blaming this on the super bowl by no means. large events across the country and a lot of people gather and

away from home tend to wind up with this stuff. right now we have spring training going on. we need to worry about that in arizona. >> other an getting rid of the ads, what do you want to happen? >> in arizona we are going to pass legislation that empowers the first responder but protecting the kids, once we discover them and protect them and treat them as a victim, not a prostitute and enable them to get help and education and all those things and help them get back into society. >> sometimes the victims are the only ones get arrested. >> that is one of the ways to keep them safe and get them off of the streets. >> could you talk about why this is an issue that you are so passionate about. >> well, it is affecting this country in ways that i once i

got it into i never truly understood how deep and threatening this is to the children. when a young girl or a young boy goes to the mall and wind up in a sex trafficking ring, there's something wrong and so it is time that we as a society step up and say not only is it wrong to do this and we are going to get you for doing this, you can can't harm the children in this way. we are working together with western states to really put up a barrier to stop this in the west. huh are you going to do that? >> we are working on the legislation in arizona and working with the other western states working with them and hopefully encourage and enable them to do what we are doing and working together as a nation. the senate and the congress are really involved on this issue and we are working closely with

the senate and the house on this. >> thanks for stopping by. thank you for having me. >> the conservative action conference is underway in washington, d.c. and testing for potential republican presidential hopefuls and a chance to speak directly to the conservative base and governor christie was not invited last year but attracting a lot of attention today. >> we have to start talking about what we are for and not what we are against. [applause] >> the reason we have to talk what we are for and not continue to rail what we are against is base of one simple reason, our ideas are better than their ideas and that is what we have to stand up for. >> today's other speakers included senator ted cruz and paul ryan.

>> national security and the national security agency intelligence leaks, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff is saying it is costing the military billions of dollars and trying to determine what secrets about the military operations was revealed and the leaks coming from the documents released by edward snowden and most of the leaked documents dealt with u.s. military capabilities. >> well, medical marijuana for children and some parents are saying it is working and the science behind the use. >> the nation's middle aged schools, a report on the poor condition and the staggering cost to repair america's public schools.

>> a failing report card on the condition of public schools in this wasn't. according to the national center

for education statistics, more than half of the public schools need to be repaired sh renovated or updated and costing $197 billion to get the schools in good shape and that is four and a half dollars per school. >> there is an oil made from marijuana and called charlotte's web and parents are saying it is helping hundreds of children. the oil makes the seizures disappear. crystal is showing us the science behind charlotte's web. >> more than 400,000 children in the u.s. suffer from seizures. heather's son is one of them. he started having seizures at 4 months old.

and by the time he was five years old he had five hundred thousand seizures. don't usually cry this early, actually. it is an emotionally day, he's 16 months seizure free. >> today he's talking and walking and being home schooled. his mom heather jackson is convinced it is due to the controversial plant. joel stanley runs a large marijuana grow in the state of colorado. it is a family owned operation. they went into business in 2008 under the marijuana laws massed in the rocky mountain state. >> we still grew it and so much so it hurt the other crops.

>> it wasn't until the families met charlotte that the hippy's disappointment could help people. >> once we started it, first day, seizure freer, no see seizures. we knew we were on to something. >> renaming the strain of plant and the extract charlotte's web, word spread quickly in the seizure community. >> a for some people giving any type of marijuana extract to a child seems extreme, and what do you say to the nay sayers or skeptics. hold your child and they are trying to get their next breath. >> crystal, marijuana for kids and how tough a choice is that and how to the parents reach

those decisions? >> it is an extremely difficult choice and the parents as you see in the piece they don't have a choice, western medicine, the prescriptions have failed to prevent the seizures. >> the stanley brothers i guess treating a number of children, can you give us an idea of the results? >> so they have been able to give the extract to 200 patients, they call them, and the parents are reporting positive results. the two families that we spoke to had an incredible feeling that the extract is helping their children and in some cases they are off to western medications and supplementing with the extract. >> there are clinical trials out and you are the first crew to get inside of the lab and what are the results showing you?

>> the trial is on the main component of the charlotte web's extract, a sinel molecule. it is a year long trial and giving it to children and started in early february of this year and should be know by this time next year wlorpt that the compound is the active component and can reduce the seizures. >> that is a fascinating story. crystal, thank you for sharing it. for more on the story watch t h techknow this weekend. >> well, we are talking about the weather and there is a potential that el nino is kicking in the spring or the summer and meaning a shift in the climate across the united states. now to the point here, here is what is happening in the

southeast, there is severe weather across florida and hail, wind as well as tornado damage that pushed through. tampa getting a tornado close to airport. we are not with the big storm yet. it is moving up to the carolinas and virginia as well and turning into more of a winter type of storm. we have a lot of cold air in place. with the winter storm warnings and advisories for virginia and carolinas and a lot of problems on the highways throughout tomorrow. it is looking like this, atlanta seeing the rain and things are clearing out. the temperatures going up to 70, john. >> thank you, kevin. >> and time to head to washington, d.c. and what is coming up at america tonight? >> we are following up on your reporting on the crisis in

ukraine. we have an olympic story in sochi. among the athletes the one that is going for more than gold, a para olympian and one of the the fastest wheelchair racers in the world. at these games he's thinking of the many children left behind. >> the only thing that was sad is knowing that the adoption between american and russians stopped. it makes me sad. kids are being born every day. >> well, going for gold. >> thank you so much. >> the special report pitten and what you don't know about him is just ahead. >> the kwhous -- white house is

getting tough with russia. earlier the president authorized sanctions on russians and ukrainians threatening the democracy in ukraine. six fighter jets arrived in loout wane ya. european leaders are increasing pressure on moscow, the eu is saying they have frozen the talks on the visa deals and warned of tougher sanctions if moscow refuses to cooperate. lawmakers there having a split from ukraine and siding with russia. john, the u.s. and the eu calling the move illegal. >> michele, thank you. >> coming up a special report on putin. what he thinks about the west

and what the west thinks of him and the relationship with president obama. and the money, he may be one of the wealthiest people in the world and where did the wealth come from. that and more coming up next.

>> the power, the puzzle, with the public imanl turning from which you knowing to colorful. climbing the ranks in russia, from the kkgb to the kremlin an perhaps one of the richest people in world and perhaps the most dangerous. putin, what you don't know about him. >> it is the biggest confrontation with russia since the cold war.

president obama and putin spoke on the phone for an hour and president obama saying that the solution is for russian troops to return to their bases and coming into crimea is violating the law. nearly six days ago forces moved into the ukraine province of a crimea. russia is saying it was asked to intervene at the request of the ousted president viktor yanukovich and he's been under russian protection since he fled ukraine two weeks ago. no matter whats in ukraine putin is shaping history. what do we know about putin the leader? we are surprising details. >> it is a remarkable career from the modest beginnings to

world power. born and raised in st st. pettersburg. he was indifferent and a troublemaker. he bore down in high school and earned a law degree and ph.d. in economics and from school going into the intelligence service and rising to the rank of lupt colonel in the kgb and doing cold war duty in east germany and the chaos in '91 brought new challenges and opportunities. >> i think that the fall of the soviet union was a blow to russia's ego and putin is the type of person he had the experience to help bring russia back to their former greatness. >> after the kgb service he came home and worked in international relations for the law school and joined city government and rose to the rank of deputy mayor of

st. pettersburg. he moved to moscow in 1996. he was appointed head of the federal security service. served as secretary of the security council and named prime min tister in 1999. >> this came after extreme recession in the 1990s and suddenly the economy is getting back on its feet and people are feeling stability and grateful to the team in charge. >> putin served two terms as president and prevented by the constitution is running again and served as the prime minister and won the presidency back in 2012 and reorganized the country into 7 districts and oversaw the economic reforms and first leader to visit israel and

strengthen the images with a brutal and costly military campaign to put down the rebellion. >> popularity comes from such actions is short lived, there was a huge rallying behind putin in the early months when troops were sent to czechnia. >> putin used the media to promote the tough guy images. his 30 year marriage ended last year and they had two daughters still something of a mystery in russia and kept out of the media's eye. his relationship with the u.s. and the west has warmed and koomed over the years. as the man that grew up post stallin learned the trade throughout the cold war and helped to create today's russia

continues to make a mark on his country and the world. al jazeera seattle. >> from the personal life to the political side of putin and the relationship with president obama, the two speaking on the phone today for an hour. mike is joining again from the white house. mike? >> a complicated is the word, the relationship between these two leaders president obama and putin and over the cost of the last two years going from bad to worse and finding a solution between the two men to the crisis the ukraine. the obama administration came the reset and symbolic topic of a reset button and came it with cooperation and early success and a treaty signed in 2010 and signed off on the u.n. on the

libyan operation and came putin for the second stint at president. putin thought the former was too western and too liberal and then seeing the setbacks. putin retaliated with a law, prohibiting the americans from adopting children in russia and a series of meetings between the two presidents and becoming famous for the frosty body language and again in northern ireland and came the syrian civil war and president obama called forral spshgs asad to go. hefts granted rev refugee in russia. then the series of public snubs. the next g-20 hosted by putin and president obama cancelled

the meeting and the meeting. there was more sniping, undiplomatic language. putin wrote a new york times article. before the winter games in sochi, the antigay propaganda law signed by putin and president obama sending openly gay athletes for the delegation. and slamming putin at a conference in mexico and saying he has a different view and not recognizing the basic freedoms. over the course of the last week speptding hours on the phone. >> mike, thank you very much. now putin's relationship with

the other world leaders are mixed. the two have spoken three times in the past week. china could be putting pressure on russia, they have close relations and china is important to ukraine. there is syria, and putin is supporting the battle with the rebels and today they returned the favor backing putin's position on crimea and here in the u.s., senator mccain is saying that president obama is get nothing respect from putin. the editor of the magazine is joining us now and studied russian. is he in effective? >> i think, you know, he's a very effective leader. that doesn't mean he's not an

aauthoritarian leader and not wielded the oppressive power, but a strategic leader, a leader who has come after the trauma of the 1990s in which yelten presided over the looting of a country. they wanted their salaries and pensions. despite the media control, the newspapers are relatively free, there is a popularity that putin achieved following on the heals of the president seen as lawlessness. i think he's also re-established russia in the eyes of the russians and a world power. >> back in 2000 you wrote that his success was in part the popular support of the war and the media portrayal of him.

how has the view changed? >> leaders over stay their time and he's there for 14 years and maintaining the popularity, john, that is sured by western actions, by the way, there is a right wing mantra going around, obama's weakness imboldened them to be aggressive. from the russian perspective the expansion of nato at the end of the cold war, something that was called the error of the cold war era is perceived, i think 8 or 9 warsaw packed members of nato, there is a view that the united states is not a good strategic partner. >> so they have gone too far and

now taking it back? >> well the first casualty of war and conflict is truth, in the cause of putin and ukraine, i would argue that the casualty that is been balance, has been complexity, has been, you know history. you need the history to understand why right or wrong, russians and president putin and the political class in russia, it is understood, he has to respond to his war party or tea party which feels if you can believe it that president putin is not confrontational enough with the west. there is a hope for an outcome, i do. >> look at the square and the people murdered there and the corruption in the ukraine government and the palace and the money viktor yanukovich was making, how does that fit into the description? >> well, the corruption in

russia and the ukraine is of huge scales. it is back to the 80s. that has to be in any country corruption is a violation of the trust of the government with its people. one thing that the ukrainian government has done it sent the ukrainian to be the gors and remains close to the government and theal quarts in service of a new government, i feel it is a portrayal of those protesting in the square and no more corruption. if there's any good outcome and fair elections, one thing that needs to happen is end the nato extension. that goes a long way to the strategic partnership and the

u.s. and russia working together on a lot of issues from iran to afghanistan and syria and finding a way forward that the two foreign ministers of the two could do. >> we'll get you back to talk about this again. thanks so much. >> putin ruled for 14 years and tightening the grip on the country and the power is growing. phil has more on the story. those of on red square will never forget the day that putin came into power. while briefly prime minister, russia going to war for the second time. it was a popular move in russia, bringing the break away republic back and restoring the russian

pride and putin wasting no time in clearing the house and they were with him or exiled or in jail as in the case of the oil a magnet. putin restored order to the military further contributing to russian national prestige. there's been unofficial social contract between putin and the russian people, we give up the civil liberties if you provide stability and growth and there is unprecedented growth in the economy. the dreams of a post soviet nation. but a russian watcher saying that putin didn't get rid of the corruption of the criminals, they are made his. he's all about the power and

money. >> about his power, his forces, his army, and his money. the money is the first for him. >> but unstable oil prices and the lack of economy, means that russian's economy swings on the global prices and the society is unhappy. russians bulked at the use of a loophole in the constitution to stay in power, avoiding term limits by swapping offices with his surrogate. the world also soured on putin, particularly when he invaded georgia in 2008 and now with ukraine he's seen as an

aggressor. many russians still stand with putin but there is dissent and if the world does hit russia in the pocketbook it locks russians from travelling aboard, putin could see the popularity fall further and no longer near as secure in his office as the height in the 2000s. >> john, putin's approval rating would be the envy of any western leader. it is usually over 60%. when russia senses weakness change can come fast. putin has a lot at stake in the current crisis. >> thank you, phil. now to a look at the putin regime and joining is steven fish and a professor of

political science and wrote books on russia and putin. welcome. >> it is my pleasure. >> how do you think that the russian view putin's dealing with ukraine? >> well, all they are getting right now 24/7 is his version of the events in ukraine. he's saying through the state controlled media, which is most of the media that the people are getting now and he's taking over the media again and selling the idea that the whole uprising in ukraine is instigated by the u.s. and the west and threatens russian speakers in ukraine and defending the russian speakers in ukraine is popular and he's getting a little spike in popularity out of this. typically people rally around their leaders during a crisis, but it can be short lived and i

suspect as the cost is dawning on the people and the economic cost is dawning on the taxpayers in russia, things will change. >> is he afraid of a civil uprising in his own country? >> that is positisiblpossible. we might say that is crazy, he's more popular than viktor yanukovich. but putin thinks about the worse case scenarios and overestimates the strength and the unity of the opponents. for example, he thinks that the united states incity sgated the rev news in 2004 and 2005. he tends to over estimate the opponents and this is what we have to take into account. any way to judge russian's

approval f of putin or not? >> we have the public opinion polls, but the problem the independent polls are hard to come by. there's no doubt he's enjoying a great deal of popularity and whether the people regard him as high as the polls we don't know. the problem o is that the russians have seen no alternative to him. during the elections he disqualifies anyone that could challenge him. and there is a regime of no viable alternatives. thank you for the insight. we appreciate it. >> it is my pleasure. >> the putin fortune, estimated in the tens of billion of dollars and we are following the money as the special report on putin continues.

>> welcome back to our special. we are talking the putin and now the money. like the leader, it is a bit of a mystery. david is following the money. >> in public, russian president putin refers to himself as a

humble e servant and reported a $187,000 as his salary last year and the total net worth around $500,000 and for years there is speculation that putin is rich, super rich, a critic says he's worth as much as $70 billion and owns 37% of the shares in an oil company, and 4 and a half percent of the russian controlled gas supplier. the information is not public and complicating the matters wealth is held through the shell companies an front men and offshore accounts and six years ago the rumors reached the secretary of state and in 2008, sent a cable obtained and cited

a russian opposition force and saying that putin is seeking immunity from the law enforcement investigations into the illicit proceeds and throughout the years there is a glimpse of the extra van gans and the watch collection worth $700,000 and gave a $10,000 watch to a boy he met on vacation. the former russian poll situation, a critic issue at report saying that putin has access to 50 aircraft, 20 homes and four yachts. >> in his eyes, it all belongs to him. >> a spokesman told that all of the planes and yachts and palaces are state property that putin uses according to the law. only putin and the closest friends now the full extent of

the fortune. if it is $70 billion it puts him to bill gates. >> we are joined from new york, it is great to have you on the program, thank you very much. pronounce the name of the newspaper for us. and thank you. how did putin make his money? >> he started it a long time ago and we can only speculate how much he has. some representative of russian opposition, he doesn't need the money because he owns russia. so worth much more than 700 billion. >> how has his friends

benefitted from this? >> he has a tight circle of friends mostly going back to school and former colleagues from the kgb and for his early years. >> his former judo sparring partner, he is worth like $4 billion? >> yes, they not only on the list of the wealthiest people in russia and also own soccer clubs and major oil and gas companies and they are well off. they make fun because their friend is president putin, is that correct? >> nobody has the evidence. maybe talented business people, of course, strangely enough the rise to their wealth during the

putin's tenure, yes. >> how has putin controlled the media coverage and brought about image? >> it is hard to tell whether the professional training with the intelligence service or the main goal of the years of the presidency and early on he started to seize control over main russian tv channel and the television is different in russia, there are four main, excuse me, national television networks and the population, 80% or more of the russian population gets the news from these channels so he put two main channels under the direct government control and then for the third one under the control

of the state owned gas monopoly and the fourth one is controlled by a close friend who is now one of the wealthest. >> what about the tough guy image? >> that suits the expectations of many russians. that's the guy and actually this image used here by the far right conservatives as opposite to president obama, when president obama plays golf, president president putin plays hockey. >> we have to say good-bye. thank you, we appreciate it. your headlines are coming up next. has tonight's exclusive report. >> stories that have impact... that make a difference... that open your world... >> this is what we do... >> america tonight next

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>> this is the real deal man... >> here are tonight's top stories, on order for new sanctions. the order imposes visa bans and

and in crimea, russian lawmakers are voting to join russia. the government and the leaders are rejecting to move. governor christie is in the spotlight at the action conference and saying that the republicans shouldn't let the media define the g.o.p. and what assist standing for. the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff saying that edward snowden's leaks is costing the military millions of dollars and saying that the pentagon set up a task force to study the loss of the security to the military operations. failing report card on the public schools in the united states, more than half of all public schools need to be repaired, renovated or updated

and costing $197 billion. those are the headlines. america tonight is up next. ♪ on "america tonight," the war of words is on. >> translator: you are escalating the situation, europe and the usa. >> so is the push-back. >> this is ill legitimate decision. >> ukraine in crisis. also tonight, bold breakthroughs or microscopic steps forward, new developments