sandusky looked at every single juror as they left the room. >> jean, we just got news as you've been talking to me here outside the courtroom that the judge has said the prosecution will rest by friday. by friday. jean, we appreciate it outside that courthouse in pennsylvania. thank you for being with me the last two hours. i'll be right back here tomorrow. i'm brooke baldwin. in the meantime, let's go to washington to wolf blitze eblit. "the situation room" gib begins right now. a superstar who could do no wrong apologizing to congress after his firm lost billions on a bad bet. does he now think the megabanks need more regulation? president obama can't stop talking about president clinton. can he somehow ride clinton's old coat tails to a victory in november? and one of america's most valuable assets is its image around the world. there are now some surprising results in a new global survey about the united states and president obama. and a lot of it is not pretty.

i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." the largest bank of the united states is called to before congress to explain a $2 billion loss that one lawmaker compared to russian roulette. jpmorgan chase ceo jamie dimon appeared before congress saying he could not defend or justify the trades that ultimately imploeded. liz zi was there watching it all unfold. and it was very dramatic. >> it was very dramatic. i've known jamie dimon and covered jamie dimon for a long time, wolf. usually when he comes to washington this is a town where he's received with open arms, even at the white house.

this position was a little unusual for him. hi, jamie. >> how are you? >> i'm good. >> he usually loves the cameras, but he got more of the rugby scrum. >> they're the job destroyers. this man is a crook. >> we've let a lot of people down. and we are very sorry for it. >> he apologized for losing billions, took some blame, but embracing more regulation, maybe not. >> we think don't make sense and we think we're entitled to the ones to tell you the things that don't make sense. >> i think you're entitled to tell the things that don't make sense. i also think that the american people after making major investments in your bank and other institutions are entitled to ensure that they don't have to reach into their pocket again. >> financial reform was passed two years ago. but most of it has yet to be enacted. and many republicans want to roll it back. >> i'm talking about the regulatory regime that congress put in place.

has it made our system safer? >> i don't know. >> one key part, a hotly debated rule that would keep banks that take customer deposits, like jpmorgan chase, from making risky trades for themselves. dimon's opinion of that. >> unnecessary. >> of this committee's 22 members, only six have not taken money from jpmorgan's political action committee. both democratic chairman tim johnson and top republican richard shelby have gotten personal donations from dimon. shelby asked dimon if he'd prefer to talk in private. >> to detail what really happened, here we're talking in general terms now, would you feel bet ner a closed hearing? >> in the end dimon only lost his characteristic cool once arguing with oregon democrat about how much the bank took in bailout money. >> i'm not going -- sir, sir, this is not your hearing. i'm asking you to respond to

questions. >> now, to be honest, jamie dimon didn't have to answer that many hard questions. he got some others like what should we do about the state of the economy, the fiscal cliff that's coming, what we really don't know yet, wolf, is what this means for regulation going forward. this key part of financial reform, the so-called volcker rule named after the former fed chairman, it's still a bit in limbo. some folks want to make it tighter. others say it would not prevent another financial crisis and that's really what's still being lobbied on right now. >> we use the $2 billion number for the loss, but some insiders have said to me they think it may be $3 billion, maybe even $4 billion when all the dust settles. did he clarify that? >> he did not. i asked jamie dimon again at the end of the hearing, will you tell me how large the loss was, a question none of the senators asked, and he said no. >> flatly. >> yeah. >> thanks very much. erin burnett is going out front on this story as well. she's covered these stories for

a long time. what jumped out at you today as someone who knows jamie dimon, has covered him extensively. what jumped out of you, erin. >> wolf, there was as lizzie was pointing out the fiscal cliff and sort of turned the tables and was lecturing congress, which was very much in the style, he's a very bombastic leader of the bank. but also i think it's important a couple other things to that, one, in his prepared testimony, wolf, he said this is an isolated incident. you look back at other banks these sorts of things have happened at, massive trading losses, every ceo without fail says it's an isolated incident, yet it keeps happening. $2 billion, $4 billion, $6 billion, not big, but jamie dimon didn't know this problem was there. this bank is no longer too big to fail, but too big to bailout, could have these sorts of things happening. could be bigger than this one. is there a risk we don't know? it doesn't seem that the financial reform, volcker rule

or not, would even come close to preventing that sort of risk. that's systemic risk that could bring down the system. which i think is scary. he didn't address that. when he said it was isolated, it stood out to me. jpmorgan is 50% bigger than it was before the financial crisis. it's much bigger than big then. so that really stood out to me. also he said there's going to be clawbacks. when he's referring to compensation, the woman in charge of this trade and the chief investor of this office, ina drew, quote unquote resigned, kwuz asked to leave in the wake of this, she made about $14 million last year. i think a lot of people are saying will that be taken back, it looked like he opened the door to that. but that's something most people think should happen. i think that was an important takeaway. >> people look at the largest banks of the united states, chase, jpmorgan, they assumed, at least a lot of people assumed after the 2008 banking disaster this couldn't happen. again, a bank all of a sudden

losing billions like that so quickly. so the question is how reassured should they be that their money is safe? >> they shouldn't be reassured, wolf, in many ways. it's not just jpmorgan chase which is 50% bigger, the big banks in this company are all bigger. warren buffett famously described as weapons of mass destruction, the derivatives of trades upon trades upon trades on mortgages that caused the crisis is also significantly bigger than it was before the crisis. there's still no exchange for those derivatives to trade on. we still have all kinds of things that haven't been pushed forward that aren't really dealt with in the reform. plus the fact the reform bill itself is still being lobbied and debated over. so it's out there. we all know about dodd frank, but a lot of the blanks are still not filled in. we -- could it happen again? unfortunately, wolf, i think we all have to admit the answer to that question is yes. >> that's depressing to think about. all right. erin will be out front 7:00 p.m. eastern later tonight on this story. several other important stories as well. erin, thank you. >> thanks, wolf.

one of the largest fires in colorado history now burning out of control. lisa sylvester is monitoring that and other top stories in "the situation room" right now. what else is going on? >> hi, wolf. firefighters are reporting some success as they battle the 46,000-acre blaze. at last report it was still only 10% contained. crews from around the u.s. have joined the fight and there are now some 1,000 people working that fire. there is progress in the suburbs around ft. collins. hundreds of people who were forced to evacuate will soon be able to go home. and the former aide to gabrielle giffords will finish out the term. ron barber beat his republican opponent 52% to 45%. barber was with giffords when she was shot in the head during last year's mass shooting in tucson. he was critically injured. giffords' resigned her congressional seat in january. and a health scare for comedian jerry lewis. he collapsed last night just

before a club event in new york where he was scheduled to receive an award and present one to tom cruise. lewis who is 86, was rushed to the hospital and treated for low blood sugar before being released. certainly wish him well. >> a speedy, speedy recovery. what a great american treasure and a wonderful talent. thanks very much for that. growing horror in syria right now. and growing pleas from syrians for help from around the world. we need to help. jack cafferty is wondering what the united states should do. he's up next with the cafferty file. plus, america's image around the world. a new global survey shows some love that the united states has and doesn't necessarily have. what do folks around the world alts think about president obama? [ jennifer garner ] why can't strong sunscreen feel great?

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jack cafferty's here with the cafferty file, jack. >> syria teetering on the brink of an all-out civil war as the situation goes quickly from bad to worse. secretary of state hillary clinton is concerned russia is sending attack helicopters to syria. some think if true could escalate difficulties there quickly. she says the u.s. has confronted russia about stopping arms shipments to the assad government. according to the state department, russia insists these weapons they're sending are only to be used for self-defense, that they cannot be used against the civilian population. hey, if russia says it, what's not to believe, right? syrian forces are reportedly pummelling their own people with attack helicopters, tanks and mortars. on the other side insurgents increasingly better armed and organized. the syrian government has used children as shields and tortured

other children whose parents are suspected dissidents. these child victims describe being beaten, blindfolded, whipped with heavy electrical cables, burnt with cigarettes and in one case subjected to electrical shock of the genitals. a u.n. peace keeping chief describes the situation in syria as a civil war. it's estimated 14,000 syrians have died in the 15 months of bloodshed. secretary clinton says there's no easy solution to the mess in syria, but it's clear that sanctions and isolating syria haven't worked so far. as for americans, they overwhelmingly say the u.s. does not have a responsibility to step in. a recent cnnorc poll, 61% oppose american intervention. 33% say the u.s. ought to get involved. that's up from 25% in february. that's the question, has the time come now+n0 for the u.s. t intervene now in syria? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile, post a comment on my blog.

or go to "the situation room" facebook page. >> thanks, jack. excellent question. other news, one of america's most valuable assets, its image around the world. and there are some surprising new results in a brand new global survey about president obama, his policies and the united states in general. cnn foreign affairs correspondent jill dougherty has details. she's joining us live. what did this survey reveal about the u.s. image abroad? >> let's start with the bottom line, wolf, in most parts of the world, in many part rs of the world, the image of the united states, the popularity of the united states is higher under president obama than it was under president bush. however, on certain specific issues there is a sense in some countries that that promise that president obama had that he would carry out some things those people wanted to see is not being carried out. so there's an unmet expectations quotient. here's what it said.

on the streets of cairo, some egyptians say they had high hopes when barack obama became president. now, there's bitter disappointment. >> translator: we were optimistic for change after george bush, but sorry, it's the same politics. >> among america's traditional allies however, europe and japan, president obama has largely repaired america's image. but the few research centers new global attitudes project shows barack obama's own policies are hurting him. take the use of drones. a major complaint on the streets of islamabad. >> illegally attacking us on our soil without our permission. >> that's the opinion in 17 of 21 countries. more than half disapprove of u.s. drone attacks targeting extremists in countries like pakistan or yemen. compare that to 62% of americans who approve of the drone campaign. the survey questioned more than 26,000 people in 21 countries.

one major finding, leadership matters. >> when president bush was unpopular, the united states was largely unpopular. >> three years into the obama presidency there's been a dramatic turnaround in how european countries like germany and allies like japan view the united states. but in muslim countries, obama's policies have damaged views of the u.s. the biggest concern worldwide about america still is that it acts without concern for the interests of other countries. and yet despite disappointments over his policies, there's considerable support for mr. obama's re-election in europe. >> most of the publics in allied nations say he should be re-elected in large numbers. if he had those numbers in the united states, he'd be very well. >> but in some middle eastern countries it's the reverse. in egypt 76% don't want him to have another term. in jordan it's 73%.

another finding in the global survey, even america's friends in europe think china, not the u.s., is the world's top economy. >> when china sneezes, i think the rest of the world get a cold. >> but the chinese think it's more like a sniffle. only 20% of chinese say they are the leading economic power. almost half say it's the united states. now, people around the world nevertheless say they like american popular culture. in the middle east they like how americans do business. but overall many people complain that there is too much influence from the united states. in fact, they say that globalization equals americanization. wolf. >> very interesting numbers, jill, thanks very much. a political pre-game for tomorrow's dualing speeches by mitt romney and president obama. we have details of romney's prebuttal today. and was the iraq war fought by the united states largely really

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this just coming into "the situation room," good news for jovn edwards. the justice department announcing moments ago he will not -- repeat, not be re-tried. assistant attorney saying could

not reach a unanimous verdict. we respect their judgment. in the interest of justice, we have decided not to retry mr. edwards on those counts. fully expected another trial will not happen for the former u.s. senator, former vice presidential nominee. that's not happening for john edwards. other news we're following, president obama and mitt romney are gearing up for a head-to-head clash, duelling speeches just minutes apart in a state that's crucial to the outcome in november. romney had a tune-up today before a very receptive audience. cnn's national correspondent, jim acosta, is joining us with the latest. >> that's right, wolf. today was the pre-game to the main event tomorrow. duelling speeches at virtually the same time in the ultimate battleground state of ohio. and today was the preview of the battle to come. the campaign isn't getting down to brass tacks, more like brass knuckles ready to rumble over

their economic plans. >> this is the most anti-investment, anti-business, anti-jobs series of policies in modern american history. >> just one day before romney and the president go head-to-head with duelling campaign events in the swing state of ohio, the republican contender met with some of the nation's top ceos to offer a prebuttal to mr. obama's speech. >> we will not rest until we are succeeding and generating jobs -- >> the message as delivered in this new gop web vid you is that mr. obama has fail eed to meet s own goals of changing jobs. >> i think you'll see him change course, he'll speak eloquently, but the words are cheap. >> it is a campaign speech. >> in a clear sign the president is in election mode, jay carney was asked about the speech and read from essentially the campaign script. >> the president believes that this election is a fundamental choice between two very different visions for how we grow the economy, create middle class jobs and pay down our debt. the other side's plan is a $5

trillion tax cut that explodes the deficit -- >> at a series of fundraisers, the president conceded he has his work cut out for him. romney can just sit back and say things aren't as good as they should be, and it's obama's fault. and you can pretty much put their campaign on a tweet and have some characters to spare. in another event mr. obama took on the republican charge he is a big government liberal. >> i want to be clear, we don't expect government to solve all our problems. and it shouldn't try to solve all our problems. >> and reminded voters a republican president was running up the deficit before he got into office. >> it's like somebody goes to a restaurant, orders a big steak dinner, martini, all that stuff and then just as you're sitting down they leave. [ laughter ] and accuse you of running up the tab. >> i will in my first 100 days take action to eliminate government programs. >> meanwhile, romney is pulling

back the curtain on his own economic plan vowing to repeal the president's health care law, strike down obama era regulations and get the country back in the black. all while giving everybody a tax cut. >> and those things save about $500 billion a year by my fourth year in office if i'm lucky enough to be elected and get us to a balanced budget within eight to ten years. >> romney has so far not provided all the details on which government programs he would cut so the obama campaign is of course accusing the gop challenger of just "offering dishonest claims and no new ideas." that's to be expected because of the fireworks will be flying tomorrow in ohio, wolf, make no mistake about it. i will tell you, i just got off a conference call that the romney campaign is holding right now sort of bracketing what is going to take place in ohio tomorrow. keep in mind, the economic picture is improving in ohio right now. the unemployment rate has dropped dramatically over the last couple of years. and the romney campaign was asked, well who gets the credit for this?

the romney campaign says it's the ohio governor there, the republican, not the democratic president in the white house, wolf. >> they'll both be spending a lot of time in ohio. that means you'll be spending a lot of time, jim acosta, in ohio as well. >> you bet. >> thank you. let's dig deeper right now with our chief political analyst. gloria, he hasn't had a great few days, the president, in the last few days. a lot of economic challenges. you've been looking into this. >> he's had a bad couple weeks, actually, wolf. the president has an economic speech tomorrow as jim was talking abdomen, he's got to defend his economic record in ways people understand and then provide the context and remind people where we were and how far we've come. he's got to do that without whining and make it sound like he's blaming everything on george w. bush. and then he needs to give voters some hope and optimism that things are headed in the right direction.

this is where democrats are starting to have some problems. they disagree about what to do. some say, look, just provide a different general vision from mitt romney. other democrats are saying absolutely not. you have to be specific plan for the economic future. let me read you something from a democratic group which conducted focus groups in ohio and pennsylvania with independent-minded voters. and they said this after the focus groups, they said the voters are very sophisticated about the character of the economy. they know we're in a new normal where life is a struggle. and convincing them that things are good enough for those who have found jobs is a fool's errand. they want to know the plans for making things better in a serious way. not just focused on finishing up the work of the recovery. in other words, and it's signed by stan greenberg and our own james carville. and what this means is they're

saying, you can't just say, okay, things are bad, it's getting better. you have to be the man with the plan and give people hope. have you heard about hope? >> hope and change. >> right. >> independent voters -- >> they make a comeback. >> independent voters are going to be critical in this election. >> absolutely. >> they're satisfied with either candidate based on what you're saying. >> absolutely not. look at the new russian post abc news poll out today, the question was asked do you have an unfavorable opinion of the candidates' economic plan, 54% unfavorable, romney 47% unfavorable. neither one gets good grades. i think part of the problem is people don't know what they're economic plans are. this isn't just a barack obama problem, it's also a mitt romney problem. he has a 59-point plan. what's a 59-point plan to most people? it's a muddle. so it has to be more defined. and i think president obama's plan has to be more defined too. >> what romney does well is on day one those commercials he does, i will do x, y and z.

that's much more specific. much more interesting than a 59-point plan. >> needs to be narrowed a little. >> thank you, gloria. president obama can't stop talking about president clinton. can he somehow ride president clinton's old coat tails to a victory in november? our strategy session is next. the medicare debate continues in washington... ...more talk on social security... ...but washington isn't talking to the american people. [ female announcer ] when it comes to the future of medicare and social security, you've earned the right to know. ♪ ...so what does it mean for you and your family? [ female announcer ] you've earned the facts. ♪

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do na and david. listen to president obama speaking out there on the campaign trail but mentioning the name a lot of another former president. >> we have taken a surplus left behind by president clinton, turned it into deficits as far as the eye could see. bill clinton described it well the other day. he said they want to do the same thing, just on steroids. remember, when the last democratic president was in office, we had a surplus. the two presidents -- named barack obama and bill clinton. >> he's making it absolutely clear, david, he loves bill. clinton, i don't know if he really does, but he seems to love bill clinton and sees bill clinton as a huge asset towards november, especially in states like florida or ohio and several other battlegrounds.

>> well, you mentioned bill clinton, it's like republicans mentioning ronald reagans. those are better times than now. the thing i'm struck by in those remarks is this president has lost the plot on having an economic policy. he has a fiscal policy. fiscal refers to the government's treasury, surpluses, deficits. economics refers to the overall growth of the economy. the fiscal problem is a subset of the economic problem. fix the economy, if a government finances follow. and obama is now trapped in doing what the republicans unfortunately have also unwisely done which is to put the lesser problem at the head of the cue and to forget the greater problem. >> you agree, i assume, that bill clinton to the democrats is what ronald reagan is to the republicans? >> well, i would to a certain extent in that what president obama wants to do is actually have people remember the good times. and the good times were when a democratic president, bill clinton, was -- he basically directed the biggest economic expansion in 50 years.

and his policies, obama's policies, are very similar to president clinton's policies that will do the same thing. where i don't agree the comparison is fair is that right now the gop of today would never follow reagan's policies. reagan by the way also raised taxes 11 times and asked the wealthier to pay more. so actually frankly he's doing more of a president obama wants to do. >> i have an exercise which is i would like to hear the candidates talk about their economic policies without using the words either tax or spending. omit them. because when you talk about those things, you're talking about fiscal issues. government's position. the most urgent questions are what will be done to protect american banks against the impact of the euro crisis? what will be done in order to reduce the burden off indebtedness on households? household debt came down in the first few months of this recession and it's ceased to come down. when they talk about taxes and

spending, they're talking about pulling levers that don't have a lot to do with the actual problems the american economy faces now. >> what president obama does do is he talks about protections for the middle class, which i think is important and it is to your point it is about the greater economy. when you have a middle class and a rk woing class that is flourishing, that's when you can have the kind of expansion that president clinton was directing over and those are the policies that president obama is wanting to put into play. so i think rightly so he's talking about bill clinton because bill clinton lived it. >> when you say middle class, nothing happens. the same way when you say jobs, nothing happens. the way these campaigns work, what's your plan on jobs? the answer is jobs. you can't just say the word jobs over and over again as if that's a plan. jobs. and in the same way say what are you going to do for the middle class? that's not an answer. >> president obama has a detailed plan the republicans don't want to pass. >> we heard a little in jim acosta's speech, but now listen to what he's saying on the campaign trail. >> this notion that somehow we caused the deficits is just

wrong. it's just not true. and anybody who looks at the math will tell you it's not true. and if they start trying to give you a bunch of facts and figures suggesting that it's true, what they're not telling you is they baked all this stuff into the cake with those tax cuts and a precipitation drug plan they didn't pay for and the war. so all this stuff is baked in with all the interest payments for it. it's like somebody goes to a restaurant, orders a big steak dinner, martini, all that stuff. and then just as you're sitting down they leave. and accuse you of running up the tab. >> so is that something the public will understand and appreciate those words? >> maybe they will understand it, but -- maybe they'll even believe it, but as a description of what is wrong with the american economy, it's inadequate.

the reason the deficit is so enormous is because of the collapse of economic production. and when the president buys into this deficit notion, he's in trouble. because he's now playing on ground he doesn't believe in, that his advisors don't believe in, and you can just feel it and hear it. the problem with the american economy is not that the deficit is too big. the deficit is too big because of the problems with the american economy. >> but i think what president obama is trying to do is to talk about the problem in ways that the american people can understand. he does have a plan. he has a very detailed plan that is up in congress right now. it's called the american jobs act, which by the way has very bipartisan pieces in it that republicans used to support including a lot of tax cuts for small businesses, up to 18 now. he has in there something where corporations can writeoff 100% which republicans have said no to. so right now he's trying to lay out a plan where he puts middle class families first, workers first, small businesses first. and he is telling the american people that republicans are just

saying no. >> but given he said deficit reduction is the highest priority, he has to pose his own job creation plan. >> we have to leave it there. thanks so much for coming in. as we've said many times, don't expect anything really all that significant to be passed by congress between now and november. >> unfortunately. iraq and iran, arianna huffington says it's a troubled partnership made in the united states of america. she's here to talk abt. and the growing pressure on president obama to free one of the most famous spies in u.s. history, jonathan pollard. ...the united states would be on that list. in 25th place. let's raise academic standards across the nation. let's get back to the head of the class. let's solve this.

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bombings all across iraq. the worst attack was just south of baghdad where car bombs killed 20 people. all of this sparking fears of a resurgence of the sectarian fighting we saw only a few years ago in iraq. and there are now also fresh concerns about iran's influence. arianna huffington is joining us from new york, the editor and chief of "huffington post." you've written a blog titled iraq and iran, a partnership made in america. give us the gist. >> well, the president said after the last troops left in iraq that the war in iraq belong to history. as we saw from today's brutal attack in iraq, it does not belong to history. in fact, it was created a kind of state of iran. while we're focusing on syria and iran, we are missing the

fact that the former director of al jazeera told me iraq is remaining a central player in the middle east. >> what you write and i've written as well is that this enormous investment over many years that the united states made in blood and treasure to build up iraq as a democracy as a base in the region, all of a sudden it's emerging that they're much more closely aligned with iran than they are with iraq. the government prime minister neural al mall ki. >> absolutely. supporting the government of malaki against the sun knees. partly responsible for the attacks today. and we see also what's happening in the alliance overall. right now the combined oil production of iran and iraq will

soon overtake saudi arabia. they're partnering in terms of the policy in opec with iran supporting an iraqi candidate for secretary general of opec. and all that really is our creation. >> iraq is now exporting, by the way, 2.4 million barrels of oil every single day. they're raking in a lot of money. it's going to be a wealthy country. here's what i wrote on my blog last october, arianna. tell me if you agree with me. the iraqi government is aligning itself with iran and trying to bolster the regime of syrian president bashar al asaid. unlike other governments, shiite government is not only defending the al-assad regime but joining forces with ak ma din jad enough. >> absolutely. that's exactly what's happening. we need to remember that it's

our creation because a lot of the same voices that edged us to go to war with iraq are now urging us to go to war with iran. and in many good legal proceedings you need to challenge the credibility of the witnesses and we're not doing enough challenging. >> and what you write in your piece is that the whole war in iraq was a total blunder as far as the u.s. was concerned. listen to what the israeli president, shimon peres, and the secretary of state, hillary clinton, said yesterday at a luncheon here in washington sponsored by brookings. >> i think some may take advantage if the iranians were location in iraq, in syria, in lebanon. and they won't stop. wherever there is a drop of oil, there is a chance of gaining anything. we can't negate with it.

>> the continuing effort by the iranians to extent their influence and to use terror as a tool to do so extends to our hemisphere and all the way to east asia. so the threat is real. we're dealing with a regime that has head monic ambitions. >> she of course and shimon peres talking about iran. growing influence not only in iraq, but syria, in lebanon and they're deeply worried down the road what could happen elsewhere in the persian gulf, whether not only bahrain or other oil-producing states in the gulf, how worried about this are you? >> obviously there are concerns around iran. but the point i want to stress is that iraq had a sunni government and now it's really become a client state of iran

because of our actions, because of what we did. so every time we contemplate a new action, we need to all over again look at the unintended consequences of everything we do. >> arianna huffing ton, the editor and chief of "huffington post" always good to have in "the situation room." >> thank you, wolf. the u.s. and russia waging a war of words over crisis. a mixed message. and a frightening police chase ends with a toddler being flown from a fleeing vehicle. one of the best things about state farm is our accessibility. oh, yeah? [ chris ] you can call us 24-7, get quotes online, start a claim with our smartphone app. you name it, we're here, anytime, anywhere, any way you want it. that's the way i need it. any way you want it. [ man ] all night? all night. every night?

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jack is back with the cafferty file.

jack. >> question this hour, has the time finally come for the u.s. to intervene in syria? duke writes we really need to unplug our war machine and not feel militarily responsible for resolving conflicts everywhere. other nations can take the lead handling the syria mess. pressuring russia to join the peace effort is step one. gregory writes it's time the u.s. stop trying to be the international policeman and protector of the world and take care of business here at home. paul in ontario says, yes, the time has come. but that doesn't necessarily mean iraq-style intervention. just a drone strike on assad's residence might correct his thinking immediately. attention from the u.n. and arab league, the u.s. should stay out of syria completely. that includes no material support for a no-fly zone or safe zone for refugees. ruth in miami says we absolutely have an obligation to intervene in syria. i know most americans are war weary, but think about what happened in cambodia, in bosnia

and of course in ra wan da. if i don't get involved, i'm blamed, if i do get involved, i'm blamed. i'm sorry the syrian people are going through this but it cannot be the american problem to fix the whole world especially when the whole world hates when we stick our nose in. go to cnn.com/caffertyfile or to the "the situation room" facebook page. >> lots of reaction, jack. thank you. syrian human rights activists are outraged for admitting a controversial student. we have details of her ties to syria's president. plus, amazing police dash cam video. and a toddler's remarkable story of survival. ♪

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a massive recall by a popular automaker, lisa sylvester's monitoring that. also some of the other top stories in "the situation room" right now, what do you have, lisa? >> honda is recalling 50,000 new civics because of problems with the drive shaft. the automaker says an assembly error could cause it to come apart and separate it from the joint that connects the shaft to the wheel on the driver's side. honda says there are no reports of accidents or injuries from the defects. customers are being notified about the recall by mail. and we have some remarkable police dash cam video. it shows the end of a high speed chase in lubbock, texas. and a toddler ejected from a fleeing suv. take a look here. you see the 18-month-old girl flown from the suv as it rolls over. amazingly though she gets up and runs toward the vehicle. her mother eventually jumps out and grabs her.

the little girl was taken to a hospital and has now been released. she is okay four people all juveniles in the suv are under arrest. and a powerful telescope getting a position to study one of the biggest mysteries in space, black holes. it's called nustar and has what are described as specialized x-ray eyes. 100 times more sensitive than similar telescopes. this was no regular launch. it took off today from a jumbo jet like this one at 30,000 feet. nasa says the plane-assisted launches are less expensive. and president obama hosted an early father's day celebration with four other dads. they enjoyed a barbecue lunch at kenny's smoke house. this is a washington institution. two of the dads are active duty military members. the other two are local barbers participating in the administration's new fatherhood buzz campaign. it's designed to reach out to

dads through barbers and barbershops with positive information with things like finances, jobs and training. what an honor for those four dads. i'm sure they had a good time, wofl. >> i'm certain they did as well. thanks very much, lisa. and you're in "the situation room." happening now, syrian forces on the attack and reclaiming lost ground. this hour president bashar al-assad's brutal crackdown and angry backlash against one of his former aide's now been accepted to columbia university here in the united states. and president obama under extreme pressure to free one of the most famous spies in history. jonathan j. pollard, gave some of america's top secrets to israel. and a truck heist while the truck is moving. it's a real highway robbery all caught on video. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room."

the syrian government says it has retaken a north western town where the united states fear the bashar al-assad regime might be planning another massacre. state-run tv says pro government troops forced rebels to retreat after bombarding the town for eight straight days. opposition activists say the syrian military is pummelling several cities on the ground and from the air. as the fighting rages, the united states and russia are stepping up a war of words about the syrian conflict. also may be sending mixed messages to moscow. a pentagon correspondent, chris lawrence, is here in the situation room working the story. what's going on? >> wolf, from the state department you're getting adamant accusations against russia while the pentagon is being much more cautious.

and at the center of it all are american troops. you may not think u.s. troops have anything to do with the situation in syria, here's why you'd be wrong. on wednesday hillary clinton doubled down. once again accusing russia of sending attack helicopters to syria. >> obviously we know because they confirm that they continue to deliver. and we believe that the situation is spiraling towards civil war. >> but while the state department is bluntly laying blame. >> on an hourly basis we are seeing russian and soviet-made weaponry used against civilians in towns all across syria. >> they're ducking the issue over at department of defense. >> but i'm not going to get into condemning the arms sales between two countries here. >> the reason for the split is as complicated as these squiggly lines. the northern distribution network winds through a dozen

countries and represents how most food, medicine and non-lethal equipment gets to american troops in landlocked afghanistan. smack dab in the middle, russia and former soviet states. >> and russia has been extraordinarily helpful. and we're grateful for the assistance they've offered with respect to logistics routes in and out of northern afghanistan. >> the pentagon wasn't always so dependent on russia. 90% of the traffic used to go through pakistan, but when that relationship soured, the pakistanis closed their borders. >> and the result of that is that it's very expensive because we're using the northern transit route in order to be able to draw down our forces. >> and the pentagon buys from the same russian vendor that's supplying syria. nato buys russian transport helicopters for afghan forces. >> hopefully the u.s. government will speak with one voice on this issue. >> but retired colonel admits

the pentagon cannot support the war without this transportation network. >> and because of that, they believe that they have to tread very lightly with the russians and keep their hands free enough so that they can keep the logistical supply line open to afghanistan. and that kind of ties their hands. >> and if all this wasn't complicated enough, recently russia signalled to the u.s. that it would allow the u.s. to start using one of its air bases to also transport troops and supplies into afghanistan, wolf. so pentagon certainly caught in a bind. >> hillary clinton making it clear she thinks the russians are lying on this as far as military support for the syrian regime and the pentagon having a less drastic tone, shall we say. >> and without the help of pakistan, wolf, entirely dependent on that northern distribution network to supply the troops. >> yep. thanks very much, chris lawrence. here in the united states the blood bath in syria's hitting a prestigious university close to home. we're talking about colombia

university in new york city where a former aide to president bashar al-assad has now been accepted as a graduate student after getting endorsement from barbara walters. mary snow's in new york. she's been following this story. this has become a huge controversy way beyond the whole barbara walters connection. >> it has, wolf. and columbia university is coming under fire. there are calls for the university to take a stand and drop its emission of a daughter of a syrian official with her own ties to syria's president. syrian human rights activists in the united states are furious she's been accepted to a prestigious program at columbia university. angry because of her close ties to syrian dictator bashar al-assad. she's the daughter of syria's ambassador to the united nations. leaked e-mails show she appeared to have a close relationship with al-assad referring to him at times as handsome and cute. she provided advice to him on

his public image abroad as syria waged a brutal crackdown on its people and denied it. this woman prefers not to give her full name just graduated from columbia's school of international and public affairs. she's demanding columbia rescind the admission. >> i was surprised and very disturbed by this decision. for me accepting her is not a personal thing, it's accepting what's happening in syria, it's accepting the genocide and saying that we are going to welcome people who are part of this into our school. >> she emerged in the media after barbara walters landed an exclusive interview with bashar al-assad. she admits in the months following she try today help her. in a statement walters said i did offer to mention her to contacts at another media organization and ak deem ya. columbia university tells cnn

its applicants are evaluated solely on the material submitted adding we understand and share concerns about the brutal regime in syria. she says she was accepted to columbia because of her qualifications. as for her relationship with al-assad, she says she was an intern in media circles, not an aide saying "i'm nothing but a victim for some personal agendas. as an ambitious young graduate student in america all i was trying to do in this very brief time was to build up my knowledge and explore ways to successful academic options. what's going on in syria and my people saddens me and breaks my heart. activists fighting in syria aren't swayed. >> what she represents is a knowledge for the regime to extend their reach outside of syria and perpetuate false messages and false realities occurring within the country. she's actively taking part in this activity through her media advice.

>> at columbia, some students feel she shouldn't be denied admission. >> i understand a lot of people must be upset about her prior involvement, but i don't think that's a reason to deprive somebody of having a really great education. >> if the evidence isn't conclusive or damming enough, i do think it could be potentially discriminatory to not offer her the opportunity to learn here. >> but others who feel strongly that columbia should rescind her admission have organized an online petition. so far, wolf, it has more than 900 signatures. >> mary, thanks for that report. let's go to wall street right now and its influence on the presidential race. romney spoke in washington today. there's new evidence that he's beating president obama when it comes to donation and support from the financial industry. brian todd is looking into this for us. brian, we're seeing some wall street titans no longer

supporting obama. >> he's simply turned them off. a lot of money from wall street that fueled mr. obama's 2008 campaign is no longer there. it's not just tighter regulation and his tax policy that have bothered wall street titans. many say the president's public smackdowns of business leaders have angered them. zukerman is a lifelong democrat. his paper, "the new york daily news" endorsed mr. obama then. as a wealthy real estate investor, he's tapped into wall street and financial sector. his feelings about the president these days may reflect that group as well. >> in our system of government, without the leadership of the presidency, almost nothing happens. >> he says the president's lost wall street, alien ated the business community. >> they want to give banks and insurance companies even more power to do as they please. >> there is a rhetoric from the president which he sort of blames them for the problems that we have.

and i think that is an unfair judgment act the role of finance in this economy. >> analysts say the president's support for higher taxes for the wealthy and the financial reform law that restricted the banks trading activity also angered wall street. those who are turned off are now turning away from him. deep-pocketed donors from the financial sector so crucial to mr. obama's 2008 victory are now throwing their cash to mitt romney. the center for responsive politics tracked the money from political action committees that can raise unlimited amounts of money. >> the real despairty is between the two superpacs. >> we're seeing more than half of his coming from the real estate sector of the economy, as opposed to the president's, which is a small proportion. it's about almost 50 times as much money from this context going to support romney than the money that's going to support the president. >> ken griffin, a hedge fund manager who donated to the obama

campaign in 2008 is one who switched, giving big money to the romney super pac. he's quoted as accusing the president of engaging in class warfare. zukerman doesn't donate to political campaigns, but is he about to turn? >> obviously i'm leaning in that direction because of my d disappointment with president obama. >> the obama campaign is pushing back. spokesman ben labolt e-mailing this statement, mitt romney has been actively campaigning on a promise to repeal wall street reform, let wall street write its own rules again and pursue risky financial deals that put our economy at risk. president obama still has support from many business leaders who agree with the measures he's taken to try to prevent another financial crisis. >> even with a significant drop in money coming in, he's still raising a ton of money. >> that's right. analysts say the president and his campaign team very good at raising small contributions from all over the country. he's raising almost half of his money that way right now. some analysts predict he's going

to get to a cool $1 billion come november. some say he may not get quite that far. but he's not going to have much problem raising money overall. he's just not going to get it from wall street. >> brian, thank you very much. another new medical study shows something we thought was good for us maybe not so much after all. the supplements you're taking to strengthen your bones may be causing another kind of health problem. and will president obama give to pressure to release convicted spy for israel. the jonathan j. pollard spy case, a hot issue tonight here in washington. and charges are filed against lance armstrong that could cost the cycling superstar his tour defrance title. ♪

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jack cafferty's here with the cafferty file, jack. >> wolf, periodically we're all reminded of the horrible national disgrace of child sexual abuse. a few years ago it was the systemic abuse of children by priests in the catholic church. the sins of the church and its priests were covered up for years as the offending pastors were simply shuttled from one parrish to another when the deviant behavior was discovered. little or no thought was given to the kids scarred for life by the violations of the hands of people they had been taught to trust and respect. now the eyes of the country are focused on a place called happen pea valley, pennsylvania. for a lot of kids there, not so much. it's the home of penn state university, the late legendary coach joe paterno and another

far-reaching child sex abuse scandal. this time allegedly at the hands of former assistant football coach jerry sandusky. testimony of what happened to his alleged victims is stomach-turning. once again, ground for this most horrendous behavior. and it was allowed to continue even though a lot of people who should have known better did. there's also a child sex abuse scandal being uncovered at a prestigious private school in new york city. the "new york times" revealed horror stories about three teachers all dead now who allegedly abused male students decades ago. the report questions whether the former head of that school knowingly allowed the behavior to continue. and since the piece in the times came out, additional students, male and female, have come forward with allegations of abuse. some naming teachers not mentioned in the original times story. but it's not just penn state or the catholic church, this goes on all the time at every level of society. and because children don't vote,

don't have any money and can be easily ignored, not nearly enough is done to prevent it. that's the question, why haven't we done a better job protecting our kids from pedophiles? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile or go to the post on "the situation room" facebook page. >> well-said, jack. appreciate it very much. meanwhile, a new study links calcium supplements which many people take to prevent bone fractures to increased risk for heart attacks. a string in very confusing health studies. lisa sylvester is joining us now. what is actually good for us nowadays? stuff that we grew up thinking was good turns out to be not so good. >> i like my chocolates, favorites, red wine, that's all good for you. but seems with medical advice it's here today, gone tomorrow. every time you look conventional medical wisdom is getting turned on its head. it's hard to keep track. is coffee good for you or bad?

>> i'm a caffeine addict, i have to have at least two cups every morning. >> what about red wine? >> i refuse to drink good wine. good for you. good for your heart. >> and should you reach for that chocolate or not? >> i love chocolate. no matter what the study says, it doesn't matter. >> it's the type of conundrum by woody allen in his comedy when he's pointed to the future and offered a cigarette. >> smoke this. get the smoke deep in your lungs. >> i don't smoke. >> it's tobacco, one of the healthiest things for you body. go ahead. you need all the strength you can get. >> even still some things labeled bad may not be so dangerous. and some things thought of as good may not be beneficial. a government advisory panel now says a daily supplemental dose of vitamin d and calcium to prevent bone fractures can cause kidney stones in healthy post-menopause sal women. >> there's no benefit for the

prevention of fractures and a small but measurable harm. >> baby aspirin, a way thought of to lower the risk of cancer. the new recommendation, take too much and it can lead to gastro intestinal bleeding. mammograms considered standard advice, new recommendation from the u.s. preventive services task force, women might be able to wait until age 50 and can get screenings every two years assuming no family history. that same panel overturned conventional medical wisdom on psa prostate cancer screenings for men. the new recommendation, radiation and surgery and cause more harm than benefit. dr. michael smith, medical director at webmd says advice can change as more research is done. bottom line. >> my first advice is to always talk to your doctor, especially with something like supplements. we don't know a lot about them. you want to make sure when you take a supplement that it's right for you. >> and when these studies come

out, you have to really see if this advice is pertinent to you. what might be good for say a 50-year-old male and family history plays a role too. if you're healthy, no family history of heart disease, you might not need to take the baby aspirin. someone with a history, that's a different story. it all comes down to, wolf, you have to talk to your doctor. don't rely on the studies or what you hear. talk to your doctor. >> it's so confusing. stuff that -- even getting an annual physical report maybe not so important, do it a few years. >> i think it's going to depend on your baseline of health. what's your family history? all of these things factor in. it's going to change. fst not a one-size-fits-all. that's what the study is pointing out. something good for one person may not be good for someone else. >> lisa, thanks very much for doing that report. it's something i remind myself every day, be very, very careful when you tweet. prominent first lady is causing an uproar with a controversial tweet related to a candidate who happens to be the president's

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fresh charges of doping for lance armstrong. lisa's back and monitoring that. some other top stories in "the situation room." what's going on? >> wolf, the u.s. anti-doping agency is bringing formal charges against the former cyclist. the move could cost armstrong his record-setting seven tour defrance titles. the charges mean also that he's immediately banned from competition in triathlons, a sport he took up after his retirement from cycling. armstrong calls the charges "baseless and motivated by

spite." and henry hill has died at the age of 69. if you're not familiar with the name, maybe this will help jog your memory. >> as far back as i can remember, i always wanted to be a gangster. >> yeah. that was actor ray leota playing him in "good fellas." portrays him as a new york gangster before he became an fbi informant and joined the witness protection program, he died of an undisclosed illness in a los angeles hospital. look at this picture of a tornado in italy. it narrowly missed the capital city of venice, but it was strong enough to rip the roofs off homes as well as uproot trees on a nearby island. overturned dozens of boats but fortunately no one was injured.

that has to be frightening for the families in venice. >> i'm sure. those pictures are very dramatic. lisa, thank you. the israeli president is turning up the heat to release convicted spy jonathan j. pollard. will he bow to the pressure? standby, we'll have an in depth description of a story i covered for years. and look at this heist on a moving truck. [ male announcer ] from our nation's networks... ♪ ...to our city streets... ♪ ...to skies around the world... ♪ ...northrop grumman's security solutions are invisibly at work, protecting people's lives... [ soldier ] move out! [ male announcer ] ...without their even knowing it. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman.

group of congressmen as well as the israeli president, shimon peres, now pressuring president obama to release the convicted israeli spy, jonathan j. pollard. an in depth report coming up.

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or go to libertymutual.com today. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? right now president obama's coming under increasing pressure to release one of the most famous spies in u.s. history. we're talking about jonathan j. pollard who gave some of america's top secrets to israel more than a quarter century ago. the israeli president, shimon peres, was pushed to press for his release today. this is a story i covered from day one. i even wrote a book about it in 1989 called "territory of lies." jonathan pollard was a civilian analyst for u.s. naval intelligence with access to some of this country's most important

secrets. he started passing some of those secrets to an israeli operative, receiving monthly cash payments. in 1985 he was questioned about the removal of classified documents and placed under surveillance. but pollard and his then wife, ann, were arrested after trying and failing to gain entrance to the embassy in washington. pollard made an agreement with prosecutors. he pleaded guilty to one count of -- that allowed the regular administration to avoid trial and need to release any sensitive or classified information. in exchange, the u.s. attorney worked out an arrangement that pollard would receive a substantial sentence, but not the maximum sentence, life. yet in a stunning turnabout, a u.s. federal judge rejected the plea agreement and did sentence pollard to life citing the enormous damage to u.s. security that wineberg outlined to a classified memo to the court. pollard remains in a federal

prison in north carolina. now, two u.s. congressmen, republican representative christopher smith of new jersey and democratic representative elliot angle of new york are circumstance lalating a letter hill asking the president to commute sentence to time served. what he did was wrong, the two lawmakers write. he has served his crime. served a disproportionate sentence. there's pressure from the u.s. law enforcement, defense and u.s. intelligence community to keep pollard in prison. previous administrations have all refused to release pollard. now the pressure is once again on president obama. but today white house press secretary jay carney offered a blunt message. >> our position has not changed. and will not change today. and i would simply remind you mr. pollard was convicted of extremely serious crimes.

>> there are many different takes on whether jonathan pollard should be freed or remain in prison. we are standing by for a serious discussion including one of the u.s. congressmen pushing for his release. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] count the number of buttons in your car. now count the number of buttons on your tablet. isn't it time the automobile advanced? introducing cue in the all-new cadillac xts. the simplicity of a tablet has come to your car. ♪ the all-new cadillac xts has arrived. and it's bringing the future forward.

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want to go in depth right now. the pressure mounting on president obama to free the convicted spy, jonathan j. pollard, the american who gave secrets to israel more than a quarter century ago. we're joined by three guests. congressman elliot democrat of new york, he's urging the president to commute pollard's life sentence to time already served. also with us the former cia spokesman and the former u.s.

attorney in washington who prosecuted pollard a long time ago. gentlemen, thanks very much for coming in. why do you think he should be released? >> it was wrong, but in the history of the united states no other person who spied for a friendly country got anywhere near the amount of time he got in. just disproportionate after 25 years his health is failing. i think both on humanitarian ground and the fact it was clearly a disproportionate sentence that he should be released. >> 25 years, you are the prosecutor, joe, you prosecuted as part of the plea agreement you were ready to give him a are you with the congressman that it's time to release him now? >> no. mr. pollard crime is one of the ten most severe espionage cases in the entire united states. it was the kind of thing that required a severe sentence. the judge decided it should be life. by the way, it wasn't life without parole. he was eligible for parole ten years after he served. he has never applied for parole.

and no one knows why. >> why hasn't he? do you know why, congressman? >> i don't know why. i just think it's all si mantic al. there's a growing chorus on both sides of the aisle, high republicans and democrats saying enough is enough. >> six years ago the former cia director, bill, i asked him if it was enough, should pollard be allowed to go to israel and spend the rest of his life there? listen to what the former director told me. >> i was opposed to reconsidering when i was in office some ten plus years ago. after 20 years, that's a long sentence in most of the world. israel's a friend. i think we ought to look at it. >> what do you think? you were at y river when president clinton almost freed pollard, but your boss said he

would resign, he would quit if the president did so. >> that's right. when the director said that because at the time he believed it was inappropriate to reward the israelis for doing something they should do anyway, signing a peace agreement, by giving them jonathan pollard, someone who had betrayed this country. he said they would sign the agreement anyway and they did. he was right. 14 years has passed. a lot of time has passed. he served more time. i must tell you that pollard has no friends and no sympathy in anyone in the intelligence community that i've ever met. he has served a long time. at some point some president may decide that it's time to grant him some clemency, but i'm not sure that time is right now. >> you agree with joe that he was one of the ten worst spies in american history based on what you know? >> he was incredibly -- he created incredible damage to the u.s. national security, as you know from somebody who has literally written a book on him, his motivation was not just to support an ally. his motivation was much more

venal than that. he was spying in order to make money for himself. and there are reports that he was willing to spy for other countries as well. >> all of these years later the damage that he did, you've concluded, you know what, that's way, way back in history. if you release him now, he's not going to be able to cause anymore problems, is that what you're saying? >> that's true. and also nowhere in american history has anyone spied for a friendly country got such a disproportionate sentence. the prosecutors at trial -- there was no trial. let's put it that way. there was no trial. he pled guilty based on a plea agreement where they agreed not to give him the maximum penalty, which is life imprisonment. and then wineberger on his own just went against it, asked for it and the judge gave it to him. >> but you were the prosecutor, joe. you were there. you agreed to a plea agreement with his lawyer in which he wouldn't get the maximum sentence. there wouldn't be a trial. no need to release classified sentencetive information. you were willing to go along

with the substantial sentence but not the maximum sentence. why not release him after 25 years? >> well, because the judge made a determination that it was a fact in one of the worst cases in history -- wineberger didn't do this on his own, congressman. he was required by law to submit a damage assessment to the court, as is done in every national security case. that was a classified version, it was reviewed by the court, it was reviewed by the defense. the judge made a judgment on that. by the way, it is fascinating to me that the way you posed that question which let him return to israel. that's the country he spied for. >> let him go to israel. >> that's the country he spied for. he became an israeli citizen in secret while he was spying in the united states, he was to get half a million dollars over the length of a ten-year spy conspiracy that was supposed to last ten years. it was cut off because of good work by the naval investigative service. this is what justice system is about. >> go ahead, congressman.

>> well, first of all, that so-called half a million dollars or whatever it is was never listed in any of the agreements that were made. something talking about now. bottom line is this, nobody is saying that what he did was right. but it's been 25 years. and the sentence was disproportionate. and it seems like this is the right time and it's both sides of the aisle saying this. casper wineberger came in and asked for this sentence after it was agreed that the government would not ask for it. so he was betrayed. he betrayed his country. and i have no sympathy for that. but he was betrayed by our government. when you make a deal, you make a deal. he made a deal. as a result of this deal, remember there was no trial, so no secrets in trial, nothing was leaked. this is all part of a plea bargain. the country made a plea bargain with him, we made a plea bargain with him and then we reneged. >> that's absolutely false.

>> i know you're a prosecutor -- >> one at a time. >> the judge has the right and the duty to impose the sentence. who reneged on the agreement? >> mr. wineberger, okay? the government said they would not ask for the maximum sentence and mr. wineberger, the defense secretary, went in and asked for it. that to me is a betrayal. >> actually, he did not ask for the maximum sentence. >> well, we're not on trial here. >> no, but the fact of the matter is -- you may be -- but you can't misstate the facts. >> i'm not in your court right now. >> i don't care what court you're in. when you're wrong, you're going to be called wrong. >> i'm not wrong because you say it. >> you're wrong. >> now you didn't say that he was given all this money when you prosecuted him. now you're conveniently coming up with a new treatment -- >> you're absolutely wrong. you don't even know the record. you're absolutely wrong, congressman. you know enough, all right. you know enough to be dangerous.

>> let's not get personal. >> i'm glad i'm here -- >> you've studied this a bit. in this debate that we're hearing, where do you stand? >> well, i believe that the congressman's position that nobody has been treated this harshly misses the point that pollard -- no one has given away as many secrets as pollard did with the possible exception of the wikileaks. he passed out secrets that would have taken truckloads to deliver them all at once. his sentence was appropriately harsh given what he's done. whether it's time to let him go now or ten years from now or five years from now, it's another matter. to dismiss it and try to portray him as a victim of the u.s. government is wrong. >> to wrap up, you say release him right now. you say you're not so sure about whether to release him right now. is that what i'm hearing? >> right. >> and for the rest of his life. >> leave it up to president obama. if he wants to release him in midst of a scandal of leaks, release him. >> were he to do so, would you

give him parole? >> would i give him parole? absolutely not. i'm not on the parole board. >> everybody gets a final word. guys, thanks very much for coming. appreciate it. i want to apologize, we've got some lighting issues. we saw the lights flickering. that wasn't editorial. that was just lightning -- or light flickering. yesterday we brought you a story about a man who says he was jailed and beaten after testifying in front of congress. now he's talking about exactly what happened. stand by. and a hit movie made about his life. modern technology made add another record to the career of the triple crown winning horse, secretariat. our cloud is made of bedrock. concrete. and steel. our cloud is the smartest brains combating the latest security threats. it spans oceans, stretches continents. and is scalable as far as the mind can see. our cloud is the cloud other clouds look up to.

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a cuban dissident whom we

reported on yesterday has now been released from jail. lisa sylvester's monitoring that and other top stories in "the situation room." what else is going on, lisa? >> we told you about a cuban pro-democracy activist who testified to the u.s. senate that he witnessed another dissident being killed by cuban authorities. he was then captured himself, and his wife says he was beaten in his cell. we have now learned that after we reported on the story, authorities released garcia perez and he spoke about it today telling senators he was abused and has no doubt he was arrested for what he said while testifying. garcia perez says he remains more committed than ever. and be careful, the french president is learning that. after tweeting support for a political candidate who happens to be running against hollande's ex-partner and mother of his

four children. she says her twitter account was hacked and she never sent that tweet. the two women have a past that's creating a little scandal in france. even if not a horse racing fan, probably heard of secretariat, won the triple crown in 1973, setting records that still stand today at two of the three races. now modern video technology may be used to see if he set a record at the third race. there were conflicting times in 1973 with independent clockers giving him a time that would still be a record, a maryland commission is considering the new evidence. and restaurants try a lot of strange food combinations. this one might be the craziest yet. this summer burger king says it is going to offer a bacon sundae. you heard me correctly, a bacon sundae, a sundae with bacon on it. they unveiled it in nashville, tennessee in limited release. it will now be available nationwide. apparently, it did quite well in

nashville. coming soon, wolf. get your bacon sundae. >> not happening for me. thank you. jack has the cafferty file. >> i am with wolf, not happening. question this hour, why haven't we done a better job protecting our kids from pedophiles? matt writes truth is our country doesn't care about children. if we did the academic progress of children would be much improved rgs fewer would live in poverty, fewer would be obese, and we wouldn't pass on our debts to them. walker writes this is an impossible problem. pedophiles don't walk around with printed t-shirts stating i am a pedophile. to my knowledge, there's no psychiatric examination that can identify who is or will become a pedophile, and in many cases, the pedophile is a trusted member of the child's family, even a parent. the evenly means of decreasing it is continually education in home and schools, informing our children of what they should do when inappropriate actions are

attempted. barbara writes from encino california, i was born and raised in rural, northwest pennsylvania and actually attended penn state university. in the case of the sandusky trial, it is because folks in that part of the country have elevated the nittany lie on football president obama, joe paterno and allotment of coaches and players to a god like status. football is a religion to people in that part of the country. the sad fact is all the parents of those kids probably felt something akin to celebrity status because their children were accepted in the second mile program, the program sandusky was involved in, and actually got to touch the robes of the psu football coach. another writes a lot of people won't like to hear this. one reason for abuse is families keep it hidden. years later, the truth may be learned. we have to encourage children to

talk about inappropriate behavior, but more importantly, we must listen to the children who talk about it. the behavior won't stop until we all listened and take action. want to read more, and touching e-mails g to the blog. >> thanks. thieves attempt to rob a truck while it is speeding down the highway. ena® wet skin kids. ordinary sunblock drips and whitens. neutrogena® wet skin cuts through water. forms a broad spectrum barrier for full strength sun protection. wet skin. neutrogena®.

the phrase it seems like something out of a movie is often an exaggeration, but highway robbery attempted by thieves in europe is so daerg, so crazy, it fits the mold of a hollywood script. here is cnn's jeanne moos.

>> reporter: here is how not to rob a truck. a vehicle pulls up right behind the target at night, headlights off. two guys pop out a sunroof, one holds on to the other as the first tries to break into the truck. looks like a heist. out of the movies, the fast and the furious, only not quite as fast. and definitely not as furious. no harpoons, no driver packing heat. and definitely no driving underneath. but that's hollywood. this happened on a highway in romania. the romanian organized crime unit was monitoring gang suspects. the video was released after 15 members were busted for stealing about $370,000 worth of tvs, cigarettes and coffee for resale. we went to a new jersey turnpike rest stop and showed that video

to trucking. >> got to be two stupidest people i've seen. either one of them falls off, they're both dead. >> he gets the door open far enough to see inside, open the door using tools. >> i heard of this happening. >> really? >> never seen it. >> reporter: nothing as crazy as this happened to don that travels with his dog, brandy. >> i can't get her to drive. >> reporter: there is a huge blind spot back here. you see the signs. if you can't see my mirrors, i can't see you. and the romanian truckers probably never saw these guys. but maybe he has now seen the aerial footage. as for the would be robber. >> what's he going to do when he gets in the trailer? >> reporter: good point, getting it back to the vehicle doesn't seem practical. once he got a look inside, he decided to abandon the mission, crawled back the