the book that made her famous sold more than 40 million copies worldwide and earned lee the 1961 pulitzer prize for fiction. she was awarded the presidential award in 2007. she was a famously private person. but according to friends her wit and mind were as sharp as ever to the end. she was 89 years young. i'm tony harris. thanks for watching. john seigenthaler is up next with more of the day's news now. >> we begin with the battle for sacramento. the republican presidential candidates are searching for last-minute votes. one day before the g.o.p. primary with polls showing a considerable lead for donald trump, the key battle could be for second place. second place. believe the polls the two battling out for second place

are marco rubio and ted cruz, they are trying to become that alternative to donald trump. but trump for the most part remains to have the momentum here and the question is, can he use that to carry him all the way to the nomination? donald trump making his final appearance is in south carolina, before voters go to the polls, continues to tap into fears about immigration, terrorism and the economy. and to give voice to the anger at washington. >> these people are not going to get you to the promised land, that i can tell you, they're politicians. >> this is not politics as usual. from biting personal attacks. >> this guy truz is really a -- ted cruz is really a liar, i tell you what. >> to threaten to sue ted cruz every a campaign ad. >> even in the annals of

frivolous lawsuits, this takes the cake. >> to keep out illegal immigrants, pope francis says he is not a christian. >> for a religious leader for someone to question his faith, is disgraceful. >> but he said, his bravado and brashness seems to increase his appeal to voters. >> he doesn't have anybody backing him so he can do what donald trump wants to do and he is going to do what we want him to do. >> this is a candidate who has defied expectations, surprising long time political watchers. >> he's able to say these things and convince people because he has a track record in another area. you look at trump towers, you look at the golf courses, you look at the millions or billions he is allegedly worth. this guy has got to have something on the ball.

>> is trump unstoppable? he has told crowds here, if we win in south carolina, we feel week can run the table. polls suggest trump may not do so well but with a crowded field he has better odds. >> if trump continues to alast delegation while the others divide them up he could build an insurmountable delegate lead or a situation where we go into a brokered convention and crazy chaos like we do have in south carolina. >> if trump does win, it will be one for the record books. >> turn politics on its head. i try teach about this, i don't know what to say because everything i've told students about these are the important factors they appear not to be. i'm going to have to redo some of my lectures for sure. >> reporter: rewrite the book. the political experts i've spoke with said if this was a typical

year, typical election they know just who would be winning here in south carolina. it would be jeb bush but he is mired in fourth place. clearly, john, not anything like a typical political year here. >> all right lisa stark, lisa thank you. in south carolina about one in 10 is a u.s. veteran. candidates are trying to approve they will be the best commander in chief. ronrobert ray reports. >> voters in south carolina like to say, this is where the election is decided. vocal and most importantly military driven. >> to me, it's always been the case, national security is always most important to me. >> governor haley, could you ask about rubio -- >> rubio for president please. >> talking veterans listening to

the issues is one of the most important tactics in their hunt nor delegates. >> if you are a veteran or have a family member serving now or in the past, would you please raise your hand? thank you, it's unbelievable. >> there are eight military bases across the state and of the nearly 5 million residents here over 400,000 of them are military veterans. >> the fraud at the veterans administration is beyond belief. we're going to straighten it out. but we're going to make the veterans happy like they should be. >> reporter: from donald trump to ted cruz, the military and veteran affairs has been at the top of their talk points. >> we have seen morale in the military plummet. we have seen a commander in chief that does not stand with the service men and women, that does not believe in their mission. >> lieutenant colonel ken snowy of the army national guard is a

veteran of afghanistan and is listening closely. >> what do you think are they doing you guys right? >> well i think they are all saying the right things but the proof is in the pudding, we'll see. i can't judge until they get into office. >> a packed town hall in the capital marco rubio told the crowd he wanted a reagan style rebuild of national security and vowed to win the war on terror. >> if we catch any of these terrorists alive they're not going to have the right to remain silent, they are not going to get an attorney for a court hearing in manhattan, we are not sending them, governor, they are going to guantanamo. >> veterans die owaiting for doctors on simple things, they die. they waited rooms for five days, four days, six days, waiting for a doctor! and they died! >> reporter: an overhaul to

the scandal plagued u.s. department of veterans affairs, delays accessing health care that veterans were promised. every day on the campaign trail. >> we thank them we celebrate them but if you are not doing a good job at the va when i'm president you will be fired. >> i think that's ogood deal, start from scratch, see what the needs are and go from there. >> a key issue in the south carolina primary. one that will surely be a high priority all the way to the general election this coming november. robert ray, al jazeera, columbia, south carolina. >> while the republicans battle in south carolina saturday the democrats hold caucuses in nevada. both hillary clinton and bernie sanders were courting a major union endorsement hoping it would spur them to victory. michael shure is in nevada. michael. >> that's absolutely right. fabulous las vegas pg, not necessarily the first thing you

think when you think of nevada, and the caucuses, but the eyes of the country are on this state, the candidates are.courting a particular union, it is the culinary workers and decided not to endorse. it is an example of the problem hillary clinton has, courting every single union, and trying to reach out to the latino workers in this state, a very important vote. when they looked at this state one of the first places they wanted to go was in fact the culinary workers union. the nevada culinary union endorsed barack obama but eight years later the leaders of local 226 and their 57,000 workers have decided not to make an endorsement. >> it was a strategic decision of culinary. >> says the union sees abstaining as an opportunity.

>> to say we're going to make the most of our sort of time in the -- when the sun's shining on nevada to demonstrate what our organization's about and obviously to try to engage the national media here. >> last october hillary clinton demonstrated with the union in front of the trump hotel, a nonunion and now politically relevant property. >> every time she's made a point of meeting with the culinary union and going to their events. >> reporter: and after not receiving the endorsement in 2008, clinton had hoped that her attention to their issue would turn into support. the union says endorsing is hard work and it is in the throes of negotiations on behalf of most of the members. >> a decision was made because the responsibility we have as a union. >> reporter: gioconda kline is the sear secretary treasure of e union.

>> we have a lot of things do with our members now, doing negotiation for 48,000 people is a big thing you know. >> this may be a convenient out but the importance of the union cannot be overstated. sanders could be underhanded in influencing union members. >> they had been impersonating culinary members it was said, to try to target potential voters there, using culinary pins to identify themselves. >> the sanders campaign did apologize but the importance of the latino vote may have been what provoked them in the first place. >> 67,000 people, 66% they are latinos. right now, we know workers there in the hotel, they have families they would like to move and have protection in this country. >> the culinary union is here cycle after cycle and because of that they have a lot of contacts

in the community and particularly in the latino community one of the strongest get out the vote entities in the state. >> but this time in these democratic caucuses when it comes to this behee beheem behe. >> it's a very difficult state to poll because of that. they don't know how many people are going to come out and caucus on a saturday. it is tomorrow, the eyes of the democratic party are on this state. hillary clinton filing pressure now but her people say they are confident they will prevail because of the latino individuals in the state. john. >> robert raip, thank you very muchray, thank you verymuch. bill, what happened to

hillary clinton, she was way out in the polls and now she's neck and neck in nevada. >> she lost momentum is what happened. she barely beat sanders in iowa, lost poorly in new hampshire, and would lose even more if she doesn't win nevada, latino voters solidly for her even over barack obama in 2008. >> what is it about her campaign that's not appealing as it was three months ago? >> i think essentially it's this. she's a candidate of the status quo. she's associated with the obama administration. and what the exit polls indicate is that democrats who are not satisfied with the obama administration for all kinds of reasons they include liberals who don't think he's delivered enough of what they want. it includes people who are financially still suffering settle backs. one thing to remember about nevada: it suffered more than 80 other state from the 2008

recession. the howgz crisi housing crisis s very seaver, even now the unemployment rate is higher than the rest of the united states. voting for someone who is not part of the obama administration. >> let's switch to the republicans in south carolina. is it over for jeb bush if he comes in fourth in south carolina? >> well i'm not the one to declare that but a lot of his donors are saying yeah, they think he's got to throw in the towel. he may try stay in until florida, but he may face a crushing defeat in florida, he has to go up against marco rubio. if he comes in fourth in south carolina he's in serious trouble. >> who does that help, marco rubio. >> yes, marco rubio is aiming to become the anti-trump the favorite of the many republicans who don't want or like donald

trump. most republicans aren't voting for him, the rest of the field are divided. the more likely the candidates that get out, the other republicans will coalesce behind an alternative and marco rubio is trying desperately to be that alternative. >> what we've seen in the last couple of days, with regard to donald trump, calling people liars, engaging with pope francis over immigration, is he the teflon candidate? >> i wouldn't call it teflon. his characteristic stance is one word, defiance. he defies national wisdom, the wash establishment, conventional leadership, he defies the pope for goodness sakes. there are a lot of voters who feel the republican party has betrayed them. they kept electing republicans

and that didn't to be obama. trump isn't going to be stopped by anybody and they are hoping that can he stop everything obama did in his eight years. >> with rubio and cruz neck and neck, how big an imormt was it for rubio to get the south carolina governor nikki haley? >> he got the endorsement of the very popular nikki haley, that could call him vulnerable to being called the establishment candidate but in south carolina scott and especially haley are very, very popular. and i think that gives him a big push in south carolina. and when haley endorsed him, she said he would be good for military. he doesn't have any military record but she said woe have the backs of the veterans and on military duty. that's very important in south carolina. they thought the military vote would go for bush, the bush name is popular but i think rubio is making a real play for that

vote. >> bill good to see you. thanks very much. >> sure. >> the are memorial continues for antonin scalia, the line of mourners to view the body. john terret is at the supreme court. john. >> it's been a day of ceremony. i tell you what let's go back to those live pictures and look again look at this. literally thousands of washingtonians have pitched up here to pay their final respects to justice scalia and the mourner in chief was here as well, president obama coming with his wife michelle to pay their respects midafternoon. a cold overcast washington, d.c. as justice antonin scalia comes to the supreme court for the very last time, an institution he served for just shy of 30 years. opposite on the congress side of

the street, crowds lined the sidewalk looking on as eight pal bearers slipped the casket from the hearse. 12 legal interns could be seen just behind. coming across the country to be here, defying the february cold, coats off dressed in their loyalty gray. bronze doors each weighing six and a half ton, great hall, 16 columns, past the living justice he of the supreme court, past a painting ever saleh, the casket resting on the cat afawl catafa. one of their sons is a priest

and presided over a brief ceremony. >> god of sacrifice you have called your son antonin. >> tomorrow the funeral at washington's impressive catholic basilica, presided over by john biden, who called scalia a friend. outspoken of a movement, that sought to link the u.s. constitution as sought by the frameers so-called originalism. it will be a farewell to a man charming and passionate, and opinions from bush to gore, hobby lobby, and citizens. setting the country back not moving it forward. as you come out to be live at the supreme court another chance to look at the live shot showing the people still filing past the

casket of justice scalia or waiting to get into the building. when i was last there a few minutes ago the guards have told me they still have not decided whether to close the doors at 9:00 be or to cut the line at 9:00. that's a whole hour later than they originally were intending to, so many people are here. as for politics the white house says that the president will spend a significant amount of time this weekend pouring over a list of potential replacements for justice scalia. the white house has also said the president has spoken to key members of the republican and democratic party in order to keep the dialogue flute between those who would wish to see a swift nomination and confirmation hearing an those who wish to see it postponed until after november. whoever does the president choose, the qualifications will not be in doubt. john. >> coming up next, striking i.s.i.l, the deadly operations

inside libya where the group is expanding and author harper lee whose writings helped reshape american's view on race.

>> thousand to major american military action against i.s.i.l. the pentagon said u.s. war war planes hit a i.s.i.l. encamplet everencampment jamie mcintire. >> this officials say was a target of opportunity. a chance to take out a major i.s.i.l. player, and many recruits, in a single blow. this is all that was left of a farmhouse and other structures in a rural area of libya after a pair of u.s. air force f-15s

flown out of a british air base northeast of london along with unmanned drones in the region attacked what the pentagon described as an i.s.i.l. training camp in the early house of friday morning. the pentagon set the camp was under surveillance for weeks, and planning external attacks on other areas in the region. >> we feel this group and this training facility posed a threat in the region and perhaps beyond in the short term and as a result we wanted to move quickly. >> reporter: pentagon sources says the u.s. believes the primary target a tunisian nordin shahan, a senior i.s.i.l. facilitator who it says was instrumental in moving foreign fighters in and out of

neighboring tunisia, west of tripoli and not far from the tunisian border. shashan was instrumental in orchestrating an attack on the bardo museum, and the june attack at a tunisian resort. >> with respect to libya i have been clear that we will go after i.s.i.s. wherever it appears. >> earlier this week, president obama said strikes against nile i.s.i.l. in libya. >> they don't like outsiders coming in telling them what to do. there is a whole bunch of constituencies who are hardened fighters and don't ascribe to i.s.i.s.

or their perverted ideology. but they have to be organized and can't be fighting each other. >> the white house compared this strike to one last year in libya which killed a top i.s.i.l. leader, abu nabil. >> both are an indication that the president will make good on his promise to continue to apply pressure to i.s.i.l. leaders who threaten the united states and our interests. >> the big obstacle waging a wider war against i.s.i.l. in libya is the lack of functioning government there. efforts to form a unity government of national court have so far failed and without a ground force to complement the air strikes, attacks have to be limited to the few instances where there is a clear target. john. >> jamie, thank you. president barack obama called turkey's president to express condolences.

threatened more attacks, the group says they are seeking revenge for turkey's military operations against kurdish rebels. tonight british prime minister david cameron announced a deal that could keep britain from exiting the 28-member group. >> britain will be part of a european from state, tough new restrictions on access to our welfare system for eu migrants, no longer something for nothing, we will not join the euro and we have secured vital protections for our economy. emma hayward reports. >> that coming after days of negotiations and one long night last night. he said he had managed to achieve special status for u.k. within the eu that he got tough new measures to restricted

access to britain's welfare system and that there would be new protections for countries outside the eurozone, what it sounded like was a man already starting to campaign. remember this is all about britain's referendum on the eu membership. that will take place we think in june. david cameron now goes to speak to his cabinet on saturday morning and then we're expected that he will confirm the june the 23rd date. >> that is emma hayward reporting. coming up next, held in solitary confinement for dates for a crime he says he didn't commit. the angola 3. and porter ranch where leaking gas is still a major problem.

>> april four decades in solitary confinement the last member of the angola 3 is free. albert wood fox has long maintained his innocence in a murder of a louisiana prison guard. he was set free today after pleating know contest to lesser charges. jonathan martin is in new orleans. jonathan. >> albert wood fox has always said he was an innocent man. after a legal saga, of 40 years

he was finally able to walk free. on his scienlt birthday albert wood fox walked out of the louisiana penitentiary a free man. he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. both convictions were overturned on appeal. last summer a judge ordered wood fox's release. he had to stay behind bars when the state of louisiana challenged the release. friday the state dropped a threat of subjecting him to a third murder trial. in turn wood fox pleaded no contest to lesser charges. in a statement wood fox said although i was looking forward to proving my innocence at a new trial, i hope the events of today will bring closure to many. wood fox was one of the

so-called angola 3. he along with robert king and ler bertherbert wallace served g stretches of solitary confinement. they fought for better prison conditions. >> there were the scapegoats, there was opportunity for the prison administration to continue and the federal efforts to destroy the black panther movement. >> in a statement friday wood fox thanked for support, king was released in 2001, wallace was released in 2013 after 30 years in solitary confinement. he died two days later. albert survived the extreme and cruel punishment because of his extraordinary strength and character.

these inhumane conditions must stop. >> wood fox did issue a statement not only thanking his brother but thanking the other members of the angola three and also thanking groups like amnesty international. there is a case that got national and international attention, many people took up the case around the world and this is a case that dated back some 40 years. >> jonathan martin, jonathan, thank you. california prosecutors will soon decide whether to retry a man spent three decades in prison for a brutal attack he said he didn't commit. clarence mozel was freed after another man confessed to the crime. >> 28 years after his conviction, clarence moses eel has said, he did not brutally rape and beat his neighbor in

1987. >> did you do it? >> you got to be kidding me. >> hey! no, i didn't do it. and, they know that. >> reporter: three days before christmas last year surrounded by his wife stephanie and his attorney he took his first breath of freedom. a denver judge granted him freedom after a neighbor raised new questions about the case. >> i feel great. this is moment of my life right here. >> happy tears, happy tears. it's all good. we going home, y'all. >> in the rose original trial, s eel, was tried, trying to clear his name, the turning point in his case was this handwritten letter which he received four years ago. written by one of three men who

was drinking with the victim that night. >> we shouldn't have had to go through that. all because of somebody speculating. >> no, a dream. >> yes wp in moses eel who raiseraisemissed out on raisingn kids. while he was locked up he never wanted them to visit. >> i never wanted to experience that, who is your granddad? my granddad is a jai jailbird. in jail. >> now he is make up for lost time. in return they're bringing him up to virtual speed on things like cell phones. >> how long did it take to you learn that about a month, a year? >> a day. >> the sobering fact, moses eel is out with $50,000 bond with a 10:00 p.m. curfew and ankle bracelet with reminders he can't

do whatever he wants. >> i can't, i can't feel i'm free, the conviction was just overturned, allowing me a bond and i made bond. >> moses eel's time may be short-lived, prosecutors may decide whether they have enough evidence to convict him a second time. to do that they are probing into decades old evidence, smoking gun confession which got moses eel out of jail in the first place, elsie jackson was in prison for a separate rape,. >> in a statement, district attorney mitch morrisy said jackson admitted to prosecutors he lied and made the configures up. >> the fact that the district attorney has not yet dismissed

this case is disappointing at least. >> admits jackson did at one time recant his confession but later admitted to the attack in court. >> what matters is he came into court after that, testified under oath and affirmed that he was the one who had sex with the victim, and he assaulted her. >> kline says a confession combined with witness identification from a coma state is enough to keep clarence moses eel home. carol mckinley, al jazeera, colorado. >> slow response to flint's water crisis. no pipes, no peace demonstrators shouted. they were joined by the reverend jessijesse jackson. officials in california yesterday announced there is a

four month old gas leak at porter ranch is finally sealed. brought into light similar conditions with other facilities. jennifer london has more. >> tucked in the shadows of playa del rey's million dollar homes, an unwanted neighbor. >> we were standing up in our house in our kitchen and we just heard a very loud hissing noise. and looked out and saw this enormous fire ball shooting up into the air. >> helen lives just three blocks away from an underground gas storage facility. she took this video from her back deck in january 2013. >> did you know what was happening? >> no. no, we just knew that there was a fire and it was at the gas company. >> the facility is run by socal gas the vaim compan the same cot

operates the porter ranch facility. unlike the can i don't know facility the playa del rey site, many homes sit directly on top of a plays of underground pipes and storage tanks and just like aliso canyon the playa del rey site is plagued with problems. >> it was hot on my balcony. i could only imagine -- >> you could feel the heat from the fire? >> yes. >> the company said it was caused by an underground leak. but complications still linger. they are worried about what could lap in their backyard. >> it is a concern. you know, we think about how old is the infrastructure? and where are the pipes located? where are the depots located that are storing this underground, how close are they

to our homes? also, another concern is, how do we know when something's happening? >> reporter: resident and local activist patricia macferson says you know what's happening because you can see it. >> where the bubbles are coming up you're saying that that's basically a leak? >> yes, and that's actually like an open pipeline of gas that you're seeing right there to the surface that is coming up 24/7 and it's been ongoing for years. >> do you worry that a porter ranch, if you will, could happen right here? >> do i worry if it would happen here? i would say similar events have already occurred. we already have health problems with people in the neighborhood here. we have had blowouts, we've had explosions. we've had fires. we have plenty of information showing leakage of their wells in the areas. >> in 2000, residents filed a

complaint with state regulators alleging there have been gas leaks below and above ground. in 2000, a settlement was reached, socal agreed to inform residents if a leak occurs but tom rogers says nothing has been done. >> is the facility safe? >> basically, i can't trust southern california gas company. based on my 40 years of experience in oil and gas, it's unsafe. >> reporter: we wanted to ask the gas company about the residents' concerns over continuous seeps and aging infrastructure. but socal gas turned down our request for an on camera interview. it says it's focused on aliso canyon but the company maintains

the playa del rey site is safe. the severity of the disaster in aliso canyon is calling into question the safety of all underground storage facilities. energy secretary ernest moniz. >> we have to push into what the president put into his climate action plan in 2013, looking at and reducing dramatically methane leaks across the system. >> regulations may look good on paper but there's only one way to prevent future leaks and blowouts, shut down both sites permanently. >> regulations are not going to protect us. inherently this industry is so dangerous, so toxic that what we need to do is ban these practices from happening, and set these dangerous facilities

down. >> jennifer london, al jazeera, playa del rey, clatch. >> virgin galactic rolled out its news spaceship 2 in southern california. virgin galactic's first ship crashed in 2014, the new ship will carry six passengers who will pay $250,000 for the privilege. her work was a masterpiece, coming up a look at the life of harper lee.

>> harper lee was famous for what she lived and what she wrote. she died in south carolina today, she was 89 years old. she let her prose do the talking. all she wanted to be was the jane austen of south alabama. her prose would make her famous around the world. published in 1960 when lee was 34, "to kill a mockingbird" ranks among the greatest and most popular novels of all time. it touched critics and movie goers alike. adapted into the oscar living film starring gregory peck. >> will you identify the man who

beat you? >> certainly. right there. >> over night, lee became a literature superstar. lee was born in monroe, alabama, in 1926. childhood friends with truman capote. she helped him do research. she never stopped writing. in time a collection of short stories became "to kill a mockingbird." the fame was instant. the wait for a follow-up took decades. lee, fak famously,en rejected interviews. until "go set a watchman." oprah winfrey took to twitter,

saying, harper lee, my favorite author, i wanted to interview her, she said honey, i already said everything i wanted to say. harper lee, who wrote an american classic and helped truman capote write another. there's no substitute for the love of language for the beauty of an english sentence. there's no substitute for struggling if a struggle is needed to make an english sentence as beautiful as it should be. >> mary murphy directed the documentary, harper lee from mock bird to watchman, a celebration of 50 years, "to kill a mockingbird." mary my friend, welcome. >> thank you. >> what drove you, what was your interest in harper lee? >> i think it was reply interest in the novel. and the incredible impact that it had. and when i began to really

research the context in which it first appeared, i needed to learn everything i could possibly find out about her. it is one of those rare phenomena. "to kill a mockingbird" is a phenomenon. about growing up about love about loneliness about tolerance and race, it's an incredible courtroom drama pap all of those things combined, make it a masterpiece that millions and millions of us have in common. >> you got as close to her as any journalist who is not on the inside. what was that like, you met her several times right? >> twice. >> twice. >> it was -- you know you -- of course part of my sadness about her passing is you kept hoping would you get off some questions and get some answers and i think the things i would like to know from her i'm never going to find out. they are gone to her glaif unless there is some interview lying in a refrigerator that i

don't know about. but meeting her was an interesting experience. she -- i met her last year in july i asked her one question at the time, and said did you really expect to publish "go set a watchman" and she answered in a very grown up scout feisty way, of course i did don't be silly and of course i wish there were many more follow-up questions but that was the only exchange that i had with her. still it was fascinating. >> what about the privacy? where does that come with harper lee? >> harper lee had a wonderful sense of her own self. and stubbornly refused to be interviewed, at a certain point and so she stopped in 1964. i mean you read all the time she was a recluse. she wasn't hold up like boo radley, like a lot of people she said she wanted the book to

speak for itself and she really left it that way. >> she had another book she never published but why didn't she make this a career of books that went on for a generation? >> without being able to ask her directly it's very hard to know. i know from my own research the writing of "to kill a mockingbird" took many, many years, there were two years of rewriting with her editor, it was a big struggle, a painstaking process. you know some of those people weren't around as she sat down to do other things. her life intruded. there was family to take care -- you just -- it's very hard to weight all the things that happened and know what the actual answer is. >> you interviewed a couple that gave her money, and write the book, what did they say about this? >> you know it's interesting if you are a friend of harper lee's it's sort of like being a friend of jackie o. there is kind of an omerita about it, you don't get into it.

this was so verboten as a topic, even her close friends were unable to say what is. they know she was scribbling, they know she was reading. if they know the answer they don't tell me and i've been doing a lot of talking to people. >> she wrote the great american novel and contrary what's going on in our society today with authors and movie stars and famous people they become more famous. >> right. >> but you know you think it's part of her upbringing part of where she came from? was she uncomfortable with the spotlight after 19 -- after the book? >> i think she absolutely was and i think she had about abject example of truman capote who was a moth to the publicity flame. she saw him and his talent disintegrate. i think she knew herself very well and she was shy.

she didn't want the limelight. she didn't like the demands being made on her. she was very polite, she felt she had to respond to every letter ever written to her and it became very overwhelming. >> mary murphy has written definitively about harper lee and put together the best documentary of her as well. >> thank you. >> it's great to speak to you. coming up. bodies of ebola victims in liberia. we'll talk to the producer of the oscar nominatedocumentary after this.

>> as the ebola crisis ravaged african in 2014, the red cross dead body management team removed the body to avoid the spread of the disease. an oscar nominated hbo documentary, body team 12 tells their heroic story. we'll learn more from the film's producer in tonight's first person reports. >> my name is brinn musser, i'm the producer of the short documentary body team 12. >> body team 12 is a short documentary that focuses on an

incredibly brave aid worker named garmai who is tackling firsthand the ebola crisis in liberia. take the bodies from their families and ceo pate them. it was an effort by the liberian red cross to stop the spread of ebola. there was a lot of resistance to these body teams. in liberia cremation is not part of the culture. you have people who want to bury the bodies, they wash the bodies and this is really terrible for the spread of ebola but as they come to get the body there was a struggle. the body teams have to have one woman in every one of the teams and this was team 12, having a woman on that team helps the families as they cope with this terrible decision. a, they've lost a loved one and now b, they've got to let go of the body. so garmai has an extraordinary

strength. understanding family dynamics, compassion, she's doing this work because she loves liberia, she loves her family and she wants herson jeremiah grow up in a country that's free of ebola. they were heroes, you know, not just heroes of liberia, not just heroes of west africa but heroes of the world. they stopped ebola in its tracks. they risked their relationship with their families and friends, they were often ostracized. >> david was responding as an aid worker with the liberian red cross body collecting teams and so really was given that kind of inside access to be a part of those teams as he was helping deliver colo chlorine. it was not set out to be a

documentary, are a director inside a haz-mat suit, any temperature going home would start sending off alarm bells, is this ebola, is this ebola, came home was in quarantine. we used it as an opportunity to stick in one place and close the door. it was fortunate for him to be in quarantine. i joined him in quarantine, to edit the film without normal distractions of being able to go outside or travel to another place. we made body team 12 so that people would continue to talk about the crisis in liberia even though ebola is not there more there are still parent childreno have lost their parents. we hope this film will not only smiesinspire people but also prl

the disease to a global stage. >> thanks for watching, i'm john siegenthaler, "ali velshi on target" is next. >> i'm ali velshi. "on target" tonight. addicted in america this could save a lot of lives. america is in the midst of a heroin epidemic that has succeeded in doing what almost no other issue has done.