so these investigators will be asked about that quite a bit here later on today, wolf. >> we'll have extensive live coverage, thanks, ed, in west, texas. that does it for me. i'll see you back here 5:00 p.m. eastern on "the situation room." chris chrouomo from new york pi up our live coverage right now. good afternoon, everybody. it's just after 2:00 p.m. here in the east. i'm chris cuomo live in report. we have a major new headline. the united states government has lost two terrorists out of the federal witness protection program. cnn's jake tapper got hold of a scathing audit. we'll check in with him soon. first i want to bring in cnn analyst and former fbi analyst robert ber, bob, thanks for joining us. the headline, the witness protection program has lost two terrorists. have you ever heard of anything

like this before? >> chris, i have. this happened all the time during the cold war. of course there were soviet diplomats and military officers who come to this country. we would set them up usually in the midwest. they'd get homesick, something would happen and they'd take off, disappear, sometimes go back to russia. as far as terrorists go, i even had a case where one of our guys was resettled here, got in an accident on the beltway, pistol-whipped some innocent guy, was chased by the police, arrested. the fbi had to get him out of jail. he took off and moved to africa. it happens all the time, yes. >> okay. so this is not panic mode like this has never happened. it's horrible and yet still not the kind of thing you want to hear about. the justice department's response is, to date the fbi has not identified a national security threat tied to the participation of terrorism-linked witnesses in the witsec program.

shorthand, we've never had anything where people we've lost track of wound up coming back to hurt us. is that a good enough explanation? >> no, it's not, chris. we don't know what's going on in these people's heads. have they been reconverted? have they picked up weapons? have they gone back over? did they decide they made a mistake? this is all possible. it can't be known. and the way we don't have a national identity card or any way for the fbi to track them, we don't know where they are, what they're up to. it's the truth. >> well i, the report goes on t say that the justice department didn't even know how many terror suspects were in the u.s. witness security program. to the uninitiated, that's a head-scratcher, bob. what do you mean you don't know how many you have? isn't that the purpose of the program? >> yes, exactly. it's horribly managed, always has been. people don't pay attention to it. they get the people to testify in court or in an investigation.

they resettle them. they visit them occasionally, every six months, but they really don't foe what they're it doing. it's a vast program, and the chances of one of these guys turning on us is pretty good. >> i've got to tell you, bob, this is an unconvincing conversation that we're having here right now. i mean, how do you fix this? it's very nice of you to come from your kitchen. appreciate having you here on the show. you're not to blame for this, but you understand the situation very well. how do we fix this so that you can monitor people effective loy? is that too much to ask? >> well, you know, i'm not even sure you can fix it. once you resettle people in this country, there's no way to keep track of them. i totally agree with you. it's a system that's broken. you know, can you put them in jail after they've helped us? no. is there another country that can take it them? no. will it take some horrible event to convince us that it has to be monitored properly? yes. chris, you're right. the system is broken.

it's always been broken. i can't assure you nothing is ever going to happen. you just can't keep track of these people. >> so i guess the interesting question going forward is, can we do better? if so, how? you're setting out some pretty fear limitations given the constitutional restraints of how we can monitor, how we can keep people confined when they're not charged with crimes. bob baer, thank you for the perspective, always, coming with the kitchen cam there. thank you very much, bob. appreciate it. >> thanks. all right, let's move on. prosecutors prove jodi arias is a murderer and a liar, but does the 32-year-old woman deserve to die? that's the big question. right now you're looking at live pictures of the ongoing hearing. what's going on right now? the jury of eight men and four women is expected to decide in this hearing that you're watching, started just moments ago, whether or not the death penalty happens. this is up to the jury. two phases. first was, did they find her guilty? yes. so now the first part of the

second phase was, is it such a cruel murder that the death penalty is justified? the jury again found yes. so now the final phase, which is where they look at the facts of the stabbing, the shooting, the near-decapitation of travis alexander, the victim here, in 2008. yes, it's especially cruel. let's look at the circumstances and see if there are any mitigating effects. you have aggravating and mitigating. aggravating is what it sounds like. these are things that make it even worse than other murders. what types of things? the way was done, the victim, the type of relationship, was this a parent/child? mitigate, a whole list of mitigating things, all done by law. arizona has its own laws on it. to be frank, not a lot of these mitigating factors jump out at you as to whether or not they would apply to jodi arias. of course this is the task of the jury. they must be unanimous. now, what are they looking at contextually? the jury is looking at arias

earlier said she prefers death as she told a phoenix tv station right after her conviction. take a listen because it's important to the jury. >> i said years ago that i would rather get death than life and that still is true today. i believe death is the ultimate freedom so i'd rather just have my freedom as soon as i can get it. >> now, there was a lot of questions about what did this mean, was this reverse psychology? is this her true intentions? will it play with the jury? all of these are questions that must be considered. they must come to a knew anonymous decision. if they think it isn't the death penalty, it goes to the judge and she has to determine whether or not it is life without parole or 25 years with the possibility of parole. those are the questions as they go forward. all of this taking place in a courtroom. we can go to cnn's ted rowlands. you see him there live outside the courthouse. tell us, ted, more about what's going on in there and what's expected. >> reporter: well, what you're

seeing right now, chris, is just the very beginning of this hearing. the judge is gotion over the instructions to the jury for this phase, telling them these are impact statements you'll hear first. this is from the family. we'll hear from travis alexander's sister and brother first off and the judge is just telling the jury how they should take in this information. we expect the first of these witness statements to start in it just a few minutes. and then it will be jodi arias' turn to try to literally save her life. it will be her chance through a couple of witnesses. then we expect her to take the stand as well and give a last-ditch effort to try to save her had life to this jury. but you bring up the point that she told this television station right after the verdict she didn't want to save her life, that she wants the death penalty. it will be interesting to see what jodi arias says. this jury only took an hour 30 minutes to find there was cruelty in this murder, but i think, chris, it will taig them a lot longer to decide whether or not jodi arias should live or die. we expect themg to get the case likely monday and start that

very difficult deliberation on whether or not they should save this life. >> ted, obviously it's exceptional cruelty. all murders are cruel in the eyes of the law. they had to find exceptional cruelty. they did. a little bit of sidebar intrigue you can fill us in on. two of arias' attorneys today asked the judge if they could quit the case. is that true? >> reporter: yeah. they filed a motion, the motion was denied, to leave the case. you know, the reasoning behind that it we don't know because it was sealed, the proceedings, but one has to look back at that interview she did after the conviction. no lawyer would want their client to talk after a conviction before sentencing. that's exactly what she did and clearly that had something to to with it. they wanted it on the record that they wanted to leave the case. the judge said, no way, you're staying with this until the end. >> it's interesting, you know. if they had recused themselves, if they had quit the case, potential grounds for improper use of counsel by jodi arias, which could vitiate the penalty phase of this, could become very

complicated. probably played into the judge's decision to knock it down. ted rowlands, thank you very much. appreciate the reporting. before we move on, one quick note here. we'll get to severe weather going down in texas. but remember with jodi arias, a lot to go. let's get to north texas. ten deadly tornadoes like the one you just saw there, caused at least six deaths, dozens of traumatic injuries and flattened nearly 100 homes in a habitat for humanity neighborhood. now there is daylight, we're seeing how vicious the storm was, cars and homes ripped to shreds, flattened like pancakes. look at the roof of a home in granbury, texas, a neighborhood nearly wiped out. the devastation is familiar during these months of may, june, april, the hot months for tornadoes. but really the season is year round now. folks are combing through what's left of homes. rescue crews desperately searching subdivisions for seven people who are still missing. cnn's alena ma chaut toe is on

the ground in granbury. alena, take us through what you're seeing and hearing from the people in need there right now. >> reporter: well, chris, this community is in shock, and it's easy to see that on the faces of the people who are out here. and when you look at the damage, it's easy to see why. residents tell us that mobile home over there -- i want to bring you up close -- used to be a mobile home. it was flattened in the storm. the good news in this situation is that no one was inside. so no one was hurt here. we're also seeing dozens of volunteers out here helping those affected by the storm, helping them it rebuild, helping them clean up the debris. and this isn't even the hardest hit area. the hardest hit area is about a mile from where we are. in that direction over there, you can see from the path -- you can see the path the storm took just by the way the trees are. and that hardest hit area is a subdivision called rancho vasos, a subdivision of about 110 homes. authorities tell us that most of

those homes were flattened by this storm. the six people who died in this outbreak were in that subdivision. search and rescue teams have been focusing their efforts in that area as they continue to search for those seven missing people. again, more than 100 people were hurt in this outbreak, and three of them remain hospitalized here in local hospitals. chris? >> alina, thank you so much. it's still ongoing. we know you'll be monitoring the situation for us, come back when we have new information about where they are with the search and rescue, and also we're going to keep telling everybody how you can help the victims of the texas storms. visit our impact your world page, cnn.com/impact. that's how you can figure out how to do what you want to help the families down there, the need will be very great. speaking of need in texas, remember west, texas? remember the proshl fire there at the fertilizer plant? it's not over yet.

we're about to find out what might have caused that explosion. devastating the tiny town of west, texas. it's been almost a month since ammonium nitrate, the gas i was talking about stored at the plant, that's what blew up. volunteer firefighters that battled at the facility who are among those who were killed, 14 people lost their lives. part of the small town was literally wiped off the map. so powerful that it registered as an earthquake. right now the state fire marshal's office and the federal bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms are scheduled to announce the results of their investigation in a news conference in less than three hours, at about 5:00 p.m. eastern time. we'll have a live report. they've been treating it as a crime scene from the beginning. now we will know whether or not they believe this was criminal in its intent. that's what we're waiting to find out when we get information, we'll bring it to you right away. up next, a rare moment at the white house today when the president got rained on during his news conference.

came as president obama once again addressed concerns about the recent scandals rocking his administration. we'll talk about it coming up. and we'll give you a closer look at those sturdy men, our mari marines, with the strong arms keeping the president dry. ♪ yup another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] this may, buy aleve and help those in need.

welcome back to "newsroom." i'm chris cuomo here in new york. i am so shocked by this video that we saw today i'm showing you right now. a runaway stroller leads to a seriously close call for a philadelphia mother. see the stroller? she just loses it for a second. there is a toddler in that stroller, okay? our affiliate kyw reports the mom was distracted obviously. the stroller carrying the toddler rolls away. the mom jumps right down. now, you start watching this video. the p baby's fine. that's the headline. don't worry about that. but she jumps down there. you look around. you don't see a lot of bystanders coming until she's down there. makes you wonders, didn't anybody help? yes. why? the real hero in this, the public transit officials say a bystander, he went, hit the alert button which stopped the next train from coming in. it was less than a minute away. the child, again, is fine, but

what a reminder about how quickly things can go wrong. she just -- look at the stroller rolling down. it's at a pitch there. most platforms are. why? to collect waters. you want to get the water from people are going to stand. but just a moment and it rolled away from her. no matter what was going on, her baby, thank god, is fine. i don't know why he fell down, that guy. hopefully he's okay, too. the mom rescued her baby and a by zansder is the one that pushed the button, made sure the train wouldn't come into the station. a beautiful ending to what could have been a horrible situation. now let's go into a different crisis mode now. we've been talking about presidential politics and president obama giving a presser today in the rose garden. it started to rain. he's there trying to blunt concerns about bungling and political overreach within the federal government. speaking beneath a steady rain in the white house rose garden he cited the forced resignation steve miller acting head of the irs after the audit that showed

conservative groups singled out and forced to jump through hoops to gain tax exempt status. the president says he's not yet through trying to fix the irs mess. take a listen. >> in addition to making sure that we've got a new acting director there, we're also going to make sure that we gather up the facts and hold accountable and responsible anybody who was involved in this. we're going to make sure that we identify any structural or management issues to prevent something like this from happening again. >> now, obviously, the president's comments about the irs hardly enough to quiet congressional republicans. they're ramping up efforts to highlight a series of controversies also involving the state and justice departments. they say the controversies prove them right, that you cannot trust the federal government. obviously a little confusing. let's bring in gloria borger, our chief political analyst. confusing with some part of the government saying you can't trust the rest of the government. this is obviously how politics

can play ou but the question to you, gloria -- is this really about politics when you look at each of these situations? they seem very real. this doesn't seem contrived as a partisan football. what's your perspective? >> well, you know, when you put them all together, the reason this is such a huge problem for the white house, chris, is when you put all of these things together, it plays into a narrative that republicans are clearly pushing and not without some justification not only about government overreach but also about government incompetence. i mean, don't forget this is an administration which has said, you need to have faith in your government, you need to have trust in your government. this is a president who presided over a huge health care reform bill. he wants the government to fix immigration. and this is a president who, you know, gave a commencement speech a couple of weeks ago talking about trusting government, the importance of citizenship.

and what republicans are saying now is, you know, wait a minute, why should we trust government when we see, particularly in the case of the irs, what government overreach can do? take a listen to what some republicans are saying on the hill, chris. >> you know, thomas jefferson told us, when government fears the citizens, there is liberty. but when citizens fear the government, there is tyranny. irs, ap, benghazi tend to confirm a lot of our worst fears about our government. they tend to tell us what we don't want to believe but that sometimes might be true, that your government is targeting you, that your government is spying on you, and that your government is lying to you. >> this is runaway government at its worst. who knows who they'll target next. >> so, you know, about less than 30% of the people in this country trust the government to do the right thing all or most of the time.

overwhelming majority say they don't trust the government. so now the president is in a difficult position, which, by the way, he's been in for most of his administration. and i think that at the white house they even admit that they underestimated this sense of people saying, wait a minute, why should i trust you to take care of my life when i really see this incompetence all around me? >> well, look, here's the confusing part. you're hearing this time from republicans, right, because this gets tossed back and forth, democrats, the out par party going after the in party, the last people you believe about the incompetence of government is members of the government. the republicans are part of this government as well. >> right. >> so that would probably be dismissed by most folks. what will not be nised is when you look at these things in the specific. benghazi has big open questions. forget about how many drafts of notes were passed around. did you know there was a threat or not? did you do the right thing when you knew there was a threat or didn't you?

or did you do nothing on the accountability side? >> and why didn't you have more security? >> that's right. and why didn't you deal with that straight? those are real questions divorced of politics. on the irs side, i'll tell you my worry there, gloria, were they targeting these people, was it wrong? let's say the answers are yes, yes. what was the politicians are going to want, that scrutiny is wrong. that's wrong because those groups, 501c-4 organizations, that's the dark money in politics, gloria. >> i agree. >> that's what you have to watch out for. >> i agree. and the perverse result of all of this may be that the real and the needed investigation into some of these tax exempt groups, which are not supposed to practice politics which do practice politics, is going to be put on the back burner because of some ham-handed, overjealous and possibly criminal activity over at the irs. i mean, the president today in

his press conference alluded to the fact that there's a lot of ambiguity in the tax laws. imagine that. and one of the pieces of ambiguity there is that these tax exempt groups are supposed to practice what's called social welfare. the tax law gives examples, says civic associations, for example. lots of these political groups have managed to get around that, and now that's going to take very much a back burner to investigating the problem at the irs. >> gloria, thank you very much. obviously, who wants these groups to be left alone more than the rest of us? the politics because they're the ones who are getting the money for it. there's an unwritten rule thshgs is what you basically need to know, these organizations aren't supposed to spend more than 49% of their money on actual politics. >> that's right. >> the speculation by the irs and many other watch dog groups is of course they're doing that. how do you think all of this money is getting in there. that's why they need to be investigated. has to be fair. has to be bipartisan. but we do need the investigating especially with all the money

finding its way into politics these days. hopefully we don't miss the forest for the trees. >> and we're making the world safe for lawyers, tax lawyers. >> that's right. lawyers are the worst, i am one. gloria, thank you very much. we'll go to break now. when we come back, two of the women held for a decade in cleveland are slowly getting back to normal. they've spoken to each other and we've heard they've been out in the public for the first time. we're bringing in dr. drew pinsky. he'll talk about what recovery is like for women like this. stay with us. citracal. citracal. [ female announcer ] you trust your doctor. doctors trust citracal. [ female announcer ] you trust your doctor. we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of tim and laura. it's amazing how appreciative people are when you tell them they could save a lot of money on their car insurance by switching to geico...they may even make you their best man. may i have the rings please? ah, helzberg diamonds.

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we go to cleveland, ohio, now. three women trying to resume a normal life after a decade of sexual slavery. gina dejesus has been given a makeover, a new hairstyle by her sister. this is gina before her abduction in 2004. we haven't seen her since her escape obviously, but she reportedly left that cleveland home looking pale, thin, and with her hair cropped closely to her head. in the world, you have to remember let's get perspective -- in the world gina, amanda berry and michelle left ten years ago, barack obama

was a state senator, 9/11 was still a vivid memory. there was no facebook. there were no iphones. their reentry into normal life is being compared to coming out of a coma in some medical clinical respects. let's bring in dr. drew pinsky, joining us from los angeles. thank you very much for joining us, doctor. always a pleasure to have you, drew. >> you bet. >> we know it in all of those years these women supposedly only stepped foot outside the house twice and then it only as far as the garage. how do they recover? of course there's no textbook for this, but what are the guidelines? how do you get to normal after this type of experience? >> well, normal is a long way off for these ladies, unfortunate unfortunately, if ever. by long i mean years off. it's interesting you bring up the social context in which they're reentering the world. that's really not the hard work here. the fact is, first of all, they will be developmentally arrested. they've been held in captivity since they were young teenagers,

most of them. god knows they'll have to move through those developmental milestones that each of us go through into adulthood. secondly, they have been brutalized over that time. in order to survive that brutal ilt, the brain changes. it changes in such a way to sort of put the person in another almost outside their body. that is something that, in order to reenter their emotional life and their body and get back in their brain literally, they have to be able to trust other people. in order to trust other people, that's going to take months or years of therapy so they can, again, rebuild their emotional landscapes. during that time, they may have ptsd symptoms, difficulty regulating emotions. this is a very complex, long-term proposition, far beyond just learning how to operate an iphone. >> the need to trust. does that begin with each other? is it better for women in situations like this if this is even knowable to stay in contact with each other? is that helpful? >> it's a great question, chris,

and it's not knowable in a formal sense. but let's think about it this way. when veterans come back from iraq, they feel like no one can understands what they've been through other than men like themselves and women like them who have been in these combat situations. there may be something very similar with these women where they need each other and the connection with each other to feel understood. how can any of us understand what it is like to be in it that horrible situation? the reality is, we really can't, but we can empathize and they have to learn to accept that empat empathy. what we don't know, chris, is whether or not that monster pitted these girls one against the other. there could be resentiment and hatred left from whatever that guy did to them. we just don't know that at this point. >> all right, doctor. thank you so much. appreciate the perspective, as always. thank fos for coming on "newsro" all of us can catch dr. drew 9:00 p.m. eastern on our sister network hln. now, it is a fellowship worth tens of thousands of dollars at one of the nation's most prestigious universities.

i'm talking about columbia university. but there's a catch. for this particular grant, you have to be white to apply. what's going to happen? that's next. ♪ to more efficient pick-ups. ♪ wireless is limitless.

[ female announcer ] from meeting customer needs... to meeting patient needs... ♪ wireless is limitless. welcome back to "newsroom." i'm chris cuomo in new york. thanks for joining us. here's the question. a fellowship to columbia university with a little bit of i a catch attracting a lot of controversy. here's what you have to be to

get the grant. you must be from iowa and you must be white. that's what the fellowship requires. so now there ais a petition to have the fellowship rules changed. columbia university is at the center of this. they explain to cnn, quote, the fact is columbia long ago ceased awarding the fellowships. it should go without saying that a university rightly known for the great diversity of its student body is as offended as anyone by the requirements of these fellowships. attorney joey jackson is joining me here in new york. this fellowship scholarship is from 1920, right? >> yes. >> first question from me, strong statement from columbia. what happened between 1920s, whenever they were giving this out, and now? why is this just happening now? >> and 1997. wonderful question. but look, to their benefit, i think what happens is a long time ago before we had any anti-discrimination laws or anything there was a bequeath. bequeaths in and of themselves

totally legally acceptable and conditional bequeaths are. you can condition it upon anything. but not this. so i think what happened is, through the course of type, perhaps people just kept giving it out and somebody looked at the charter of this and said, wait a second, this is exclusively for whites. we can't do this. >> in '97? not '57. >> right, exactly. it came way after the 1964 civil rights act and everything else. so you have to wonder how and why university officials at this time finally got to address it. so that we don't know, we can't address. we do know that in 1997 when they did look at it they said, something's amiss. we'll stop awarding it. but then of course we fast-forward to now, chris, which is the petition that's before the court to say, look, we have to declare this invalid, void ab nish yoe, against public poli policy. >> first of all, give me a fist-bump for dropping that. let me ask you this, the trustees bringing this action, this is the legal representative of the money involved for this

scholarship. >> jpmorgan chase. >> they're the ones bringing this motion to the court and saying, we want to change this. so it does look and smell at this point like a, we didn't read the fine print until someone raised our attention to it. fair analysis? >> seems like a fair analysis. certainly you can argue that they should have looked at this, should have addressed this and this should not -- whether it's 1997 that was the last grant awarded or present day 2013, certainly it should not have waited to this point. but things happen. apparently it was missed. now that it has been missed we know that the trustee, jpmorgan chase, is doing it with the support of columbia university, trying to address the law, declare this provision invalid and improper, not to mention unlawful. >> do we know if all the kids who got the fellowship were white kids from iowa? >> apparently there were. they were kids from iowa. what was interesting, chris, in looking at this, it was not spoeszed to be for attorneys. we talked about bequeaths being conditional. one condition was, couldn't be lawyers. medical people, other people

weren't allowed to do it. one person who was awarded this happened to be an attorney and spoke on the issue, so said, i had no idea, right, that this is at all -- that i got this award and it was supposed to be only for whites or what have you. >> that's why they didn't want attorneys to have it, because you guys get in there and mess everything up. >> we correct the conditions as is being corrected by the court. i think the court will award the participate. as we talked about it before, you liked the latin term void ab nish yoe, from the beginning, against public policy. as a result of that, it will be corrected and the scholarship will no longer be exclusive to white americans. >> hopefully -- >> iowans. >> hopefully nobody objects to. maybe they'll keep that. >> thank you. >> joey jackson. ab nish yoe. when we come back, he's got one of the hottest tv shows, anthony bourdain is going to a place that two years ago you wouldn't have dreamed of visiting. take a look and listen.

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we have been hearing a lot lately about last september's deadly terror attack in it benghazi, libya, and the

investigations into the obama administration's response to it. well, here is a very different take on libya. this sunday, anthony bourdain takes us inside libya in the aftermath of benghazi less than two years after the overthrow of one of the world's most infamous dictators, moammar gadhafi. some of the developments in post-revolution libya may surprise you. take a look and a listen. >> fresh produce is for sale on tripoli's streets. if you are a small restaurant or shopping for a big family, you bring cash, a wheelbarrow, and load up with what you need. but revolution has brought changed tastes. libyans, especially young libyans, hunger for more than just freedom. they hunger for places like this. kentucky fried chicken.

uncle kentucky fried eed chicke. okay. the colonel and his buddies the king and the clown haven't quite made it here, given the uncertainty of the situation. so in the meantime, places like this have been popping up. uncle kentucky. awesome. you know where kentucky is? >> kentucky is from usa. >> part, yes. this place is new? >> yeah, new. before gadhafi -- >> impossible. >> yeah. now it's normal. >> oh, that's nice. >> how you find it? >> spicy delicious. >> anthony bourdain has to go all the way to libya to have kentucky fried chicken. let me ask you this -- thank you for joining us, the show is great, continued good luck -- any apprehension of being in such a dangerous place? >> it was a time of great uncertainty when we were the. c

apprised of threats, both real and possible, but i was so inspired by so many of the people i met and surprised by what saw there, that i'm glad i made it. >> how so? because we're looking at it through one context right now, unrest, the civil strife, coming out of gadhafi as a dictatorship. what was your experience on the ground? >> there are a lot of people there who no doubt want to do us harm and who would like to reverse what's happened there. but there are also a lot of people, a lot of people, many of them young, who fought like crazy for freedom, who just want what everybody else has, who are trying to make normal lives for themselves and maybe improve their lot a little bit. they broke my heart. this kid in that scene was so happy to be eating fast food fried chicken, an unmaimaginabl

western treat. hard to be cold-hearted against that. >> how did it stand up to ken fried chicken here? >> not bad. >> they call it kentaki, which probably protects them legally. >> i don't -- i don't know whether the copy write people are going to be pursuing this case right away, but i think it will be a while before western franchises again into tripoli. >> when you go into different places you seem to come away with different feels about them, even in similar regions. how do you distinguish? >> you know, i see things very differently because i'm sitting down at a table with people. and ostensibly we're talking about simple things. what do you like to eat? what makes you happy? what is your life like? what are your hopes for the future? when you're not bringing a news agenda to the table, people say extraordinary things to you and you do, i think, pick up a flavor that maybe others don't. >> it's interesting you use the word "flavor." we always think the weather is

the most relatable thing when we're in foreign environments. but talking about food, do you believe that gives you access into people that in news questions can't? >> everybody is proud of their food. there's nothing more political than who is eating, who isn't and what they're eating. also people tend to be very proud of their food. however luxurious or simple it might be, it is an expression of their it culture, their history, their -- it says something about them, what gives them pleasure, what their own emotional touch stones are. so people revealed themselves to me in extraordinary ways again and again and again during the making of this show, and it really made all the difficulties well worthwhile. >> you get dulueluged by the fo and kwi zcuisine. anything that stood out there? >> they have good italian food. >> really? >> the italians colonized libya for quite some time and there is a tradition of pasta, southern

italian style ragus and pasta. their seafood is extraordinary. they're on prime real estate, very good fish dishes. and of course as with any enlightened culture, they do like barbecue. >> i think one of the big surprises in your show is that you don't get insight into just cuisine, it's culture, you get to understand people differently that accesses the ethos about what they're it about. >> amazing things happen at the table. i don't necessarily look for it. but if you show up and are willing to eat what's in front of you, with an open heart, free of prejudice as you can, people everywhere tend to appreciate that and show you a side of themselves that is often quite extraordinary. >> you have that rare gift so many of us journalists wish we had. you don't go looking for it, but it finds you anyway. >> thank you. >> tony, thank you. continued good luck. for much more of anthony bourdain in libya, catch "parts unknown" sunday 9:00 p.m.

eastern, cnn. coming up next, the younger suspect in the boston bombings left a note behind in that boat where he hid from police. i'm going to speak live with a former interrogator about what this says about his motive, what has been learned. could it be used against him in court? someone who's lived well into their 90s. and that's a great thing. but even though we're living longer, one thing that hasn't changed much is the official retirement age. ♪ the question is how do you make sure you have the money you need to enjoy all of these years. ♪ with one extraordinary purpose... to get "man of steel" advanced screening tickets. [ movie announcer voice ] at walmart. see "man of steel" at your local theater before anyone else. get in line 8 a.m. may 18th at walmart. rated pg-13.

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flexpen® is insulin delivery my way. covered by most insurance plans, including medicare. ask your health care provider about levemir® flexpen today. we all remember the scene now. it's in watertown, they're pursuing the second suspect in the bombings. they wind up finding him in a boat. remember how heroic the owner of the boat was in contacting authorities. well, in that boat we now believe the surviving suspect wrote a note revealing his motives for the attack. it was scribbled on an inside wall of that boat where he was eventually captured. the note says the boston bombing was payback for u.s. wars on muslim lands, including iraq and afghanistan. he also mentioned the apparent mastermind of the boston bombings, saying he would not

miss his older brother because he had expected to see him soon, join him in death. he wrote that an attack on one muslim is an attack on all muslims. let's get some perspective on what this means, bring in former secret service agent. thank you for joining us. based on this note, what does it do for the investigation? because he had been talking to investigators. he had talked a little bit about motive. but how does this help? >> it just makes it clear what the motive was for committing the attacks, and usually there's some type of ideological approach as far as when somebody is doing any form of terrorism. it can be a moral approach, an ideology, or something divine. and here we see something of both worlds basically morphed together. and he's basically telling you, this is why i did this, this is why i committed the act, and i'm serving a greater purpose than myself. >> does this feed the insight that the younger suspect was

really cultivated by his brother? is this consistent with that understand something. >> yes, i would think so, but also it's not just his brother. i mean, on his own, he decided to do these things so there's something within him, maybe things that he experienced that shifted his perspective. maybe injustices he saw committed toward his brother or maybe things he experience himself. it can't be solely one person that manipulates you in such an extreme way to cause you to do something like this. >> one of the confusions here is it was easier for him to realize that he was coming toward an end when he was in that boat and knew how much force was closing in on him. but in the days preceding, such random behavior of someone who wanted to stay, wanted to keep their life, keep going to the same places, doing the same things. how do we balance that with a terrorist act? we're used to suicide bombers more so, but what does that tell you about these individuals? >> well i >> well, a terrorist usually is

somebody who blends in well, who is very charismatic, appears very gracious. they don't have the characteristics we all assume we'll see, those that are very out there and indicative of this person's probably not right with them. a true terrorist is intelligent. they absorb well into society. so i don't think that, you know, there is anything particular we should be looking for. in fact, this is probably the typical behavior you would see of a truly intelligent and successful terrorist. >> some in the intelligence community have said, look, this is horrible but now we've learned things and we're attuned to certain sensitivities that before maybe we were not, that the intelligence community learned from this. you see that in the example as well? >> it's difficult. there's so many people out there they're watching. just the database alone where they put in the terrorists' names, there's something like 740,000 names in there of possible terrorists we should be watching. how can you oversee something like that? law enforcement and the

government can only do so much. a lot of it does fall on society and community as well. us as people paying attention to what is going on around us. our neighbors. our friends. the people we associate with. watching for those nuances or odd behaviors that maybe make us think, you know, something isn't right here, and speaking up. you know how they say, when you see something, say something? that means for everything. >> and hopefully -- we saw how quickly the investigation moved because of people coming forward early on, and now as we get more vigilant as a society, hopefully we can stop some of these before they occur. thank you very much for the perspective. appreciate it. >> thank you for having me. we're 54 past the hour. we'll take a quick break. see you on the other side.

coming up here on "newsroom," more about the breaking news two terror suspects missing from the witness protection program. jake tapper broke this news. he'll be joining me here live, next, right after the break. don't miss it. hey! did you know that honey nut cheerios

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just before 3:00 etern time, i'm chris cuomo in new york. we have some breaking news for you here out of indiana. a school bus has crashed. we're looking at it right now. e we're just getting this information in. we'll be watching the information. we have heard it's a special needs group of students in the bus. there are injuries. we don't know the circumstances yet surrounding why it happened, but we wanted to give this to you just because we know it's developing right now. we're trying to find out what we can. the location, indiana between zionsville and lebanon in boone county. left lane as you can see is closed. emergency crews are treating patients, trying to clean up the crash. we don't know yet, again, what's going on. we don't want to give information we haven't confirmed but the patients are being taken to st. vincent and methodist hospitals. iwitness news has learned this is a special needs school bus from lafayette schools. definitely a bus rollover. there were injuries. we don't know more. when we do, we'll bring it to you. that's the latest on this

situation out of indiana. we want to move on now to exclusive reporting brought to you first by cnn's jake tapper. the headline -- the u.s. government has lost two suspected terrorists who once participated in the federal witness protection program. the government gave them new identities, protected them, and then lost them. let's bring in our chief washington correspondent, anchor of course of "the lead," jake tapper. jake, great to have you. what is the scoop? >> well, chris, you and i have talked quite a bit, especially when we were in boston covering the boston marathon bombing, about the problem of stove piping, when intelligence agencies, national security agencies in this country, do not share information with other agencies. that seems to be the problem here. according to an inspector general report for the department of justice. that is, the individuals in charge, the department of justice individuals and agencies in charge of the witness protection program called witness security, gave new names, new identities to suspected terrorists who were

helping them out with prosecutions, but they did not give those new names to the individuals who run the terrorist database in this country. so they were able to fly. and of the hundreds of thousands of individuals on this list, while the inspector general was doing this audit, they told the justice department about it and the justice department tried to figure out and track down all of these individuals and they realized that two of them have left the country and they're not exactly sure where they are. so let's quote from the inspector general report that we obtained first today. in july 2012, the u.s. marshal service stated that it was unable to locate two former federal witness security program participants identified as known or suspected terrorists, and that, through its investigative efforts, it has concluded that one individual was and the other individual was believed to be residing outside the united states. in another part of the summary of the report, the inspector general says, as a result of the department not disclosing the

information on these known or suspected terrorists, the new government-provided identities of known or suspected terrorists were not included on the government's consolidated terrorist watchlist until we brought this matter to the justice department's attention. therefore, it was possible for known or suspected terrorists to fly on commercial airplanes in or over the united states. now, the justice department has spochbded to this, of course. they say that they agree with the inspector general's audit report, that the witness security program requirements for admitting and moderating participants needed to be enhanced for terrorist-linked witnesses. it's another example of that not sharing information that we've talked so much about, the stovepiping of information we talked about, for instance, in the 9/11 case and also in the boston marathon case when the fbi did not share with local boston law enforcement suspicions that the russian government had about the oldest tsarnaev brother. and then, of course, chris, this comes within the context of really a horrible week politically for president obama, whether you're talking about the

investigation into benghazi and scrutiny of the administration's role or perhaps, more importantly, the irs unfairly and inappropriately, according to the obama administration itself, targeting conservative groups, and then of course you have the third story about the department of justice subpoenaing records from the associated press in a leak investigation. a lot of people think that is very heavy-handed tactics to go after the associated presses phone records like that. on top of all that, you now have the story of two terror suspects getting out of the control and getting out of the eyesight of the government agency that is supposed to be keeping a watch on them, chris. >> jake, you may have opened up the one that is going to worry americans the most because i believe somewhere else in that report it said that the witsec, witness security part of this program, wasn't aware of how many people they were monitoring. so while they're saying there are two that they know they lost, they may not know really

who else is where and what's going on. and the unknown may be even more frightening than the known. right, jake? >> no doubt there's a lot of questions about the justice department and their recordkeeping when it comes to how many terror suspects are on this list, on the witness security program. the justice department in the coming days and weeks i'm sure will tais face a lot of questions. when our capitol hill producer ted barrett asked lawmakers about this today, of course, we just broke the story a few hours ago, they did not even know about it yet. it was a story that the white house press corps, those called on at the press conference today, did not ask about because it's so fresh and new. jessica yellin our senior white house correspondent yelled out a question to president obama but he didn't take her up on her offer. but i think the response that we're going to hear is going to be fairly strong because, as you say, national security and the idea of the government knowing where suspected terrorists are, giving them new identities because they're cooperating with an investigation, not sharing

that information with the agencies that are supposed to keep an eye on suspected terrorists and then losing track of two of them, it's pretty astou astounding, chris. >> hopefully this is not just the way things are done there. hopefully this is an aberration. obviously your reporting will force answers and hopefully some accountability. jake, thanks for being on the "newsroom." i know you'll have a lot more on this and the other situations facing the white house on "the lead." appreciate it. jake's show started at the top of the hour, of course. right now we want to move on to a different situation developing. prosecutors proved jodi arias is a murderer and a liar. the big question now is, will the 32-year-old woman be put to death? the jury is deciding this it. eight men, four women, they're in a hering. they already have found in this hearing that this murder was especially cruel. that triggers the next phase of analysis in the hearing, which is, are there mitigating factors that would keep her from deserving the death penalty?

aggravating factors that make this worthy of the death penalty? so the jurors are listening to victim impact statements, looking at the pictures of the wupds and brutal things done to travis alexander. they did hear, as i said, from family members. they may hear from jodi arias herself in something called an al owe cushion, which is where she gives her take on the situation but is not cross-examined. her attorney referred to that in his opening statement. >> my brother's murder has had a major impact on me. it's even invaded my dreams. i have nightmares about somebody coming at me with a knife and then going after my wife and my daughter. when i wake up, i cannot establish what is real, what is a dream. i've even gone through the house searching through rooms, shaken my family it to wake them up to make sure that they are alive. my wife has woken me up out of nightmares because i was

screaming in my sleep. it may sound childish, but i cannot sleep alone in the dark anymore. i've had dreams of my brother all curled up in the shower, thrown in it there, left to rot for it days, all alone. i don't want these nightmares anymore. >> that is the victim's brother obviously. this will be decided by the jury. it must be unanimous, but they will be working off of what has been given to them largely by the attorneys. let's bring in cnn legal eagles here, we have one analyst paul callan, criminal defense attorney jami floyd as well. thanks for being here. this situation of analysis, aggravating face ining factors,g factors. the simple version is, they'll

look at what is before them and decide if it's worthy of death. paul, i'll start with you, only one juror, if it has to be unanimous, decides she doesn't get the death penalty and they move on to life, 25 years, porn possibility of parole, that the judge decides. would you say the odds are in favor of arias not getting the death penalty? >> i would say she's on a fast road to the death penalty at this point. with the jury coming back yesterday in i think slightly less than two hours finding that this was an exceptional cruelty case triggering this death penalty hearing, that's highly suggestive that all of the jurors think, at least they're leaning toward it as a death penalty case. because you have to consider, chris, if one juror didn't want the death penalty, that juror could have chosen a battle yesterday and fought back. two hours they come back and say, let's go to the next phase. so i think she's in trouble at this point. we'll see. she's made public statements that she wants the death

penalty. if she gets on the stand and advocates that, wow. i think her lawyers have a tough john on their hands. >> jami, give me the other side of it. it could be countering paul's point that it's cruel on its face, cruel by any definition, but to look at it specifically whether it's worthy of the death penalty could be a little different in the minds of jurors. how do you see it going down? >> yeah, i tend to agree with paul, but i'll take it your bait and give it the other side. first of all, jurors are aware that there are other cases more heinous, more cruel, more debraved than this. i could cite just two, jeffrey dahmer, cannibal, refrigerated young boys and did not get the death penalty. charles manson, notorious serial killer did not get the death penalty, jurors are aware of that even though they're not to expressly consider it. also, she's a woman. we don't like putting women on death row in this country or in

arizona. 3,000 people or more are on death row, only 63 of those women. only three in arizona a state with 63 people on state -- no. has 125 or so on death row. so it's not something we do in it this country so that cuts in her favor. all that being said, i think it is a very, very difficult path for the defense, especially given that you're working, chris, with a death-qualified jury. these are people who have already said from jump they can impose and will impose the death penalty if they feel it's appropriate. >> so if you both think we're going in that direction, what is the strongest case for why this deserves the death penalty? paul, i'll start with you, jami you follow on that. >> the strongest case that it deserves the death penalty is the cruelty of the killing and also the preplanning of the killing. i mean, it's the functional equivalent of hiring a hit man

to kill someone. she planned it carefully. she executed it in the most painful way possible by stabbing him 29 or 30 times and then shooting him. so i think you could make a case that it's an exceptionally cruel case. and statistically, just getting back to this interesting point jami raised, we very rarely put women to death in the united states. but i was looking at the stats. of the 12 women who have been put to death in the recent past since the 1970s, 6 of them killed husbands or lovers. so jurors don't seem to be too sympathetic to cold-blooded killers of husbands or lovers. >> and jami, final point? >> let me also point out, with great irony, that the first person ever executed in arizona since it became a state was a woman, believe it or not. that being said, i have to say, chris, i don't believe this is a death penalty case. i really don't. i know it's a horrific crime, and i do believe that he

suffered. but i don't think, even for those of us who believe in the death penalty, that this is a case that rises to that level. >> why not? >> well, because i think we reserve the death penalty for cases of serial killers and terrorists and people who are treasonous against our country. i don't know this is a woman who would repeat this kind of crime and is a danger to society, especially if she is given life without any possibility of parole. we have to remember that if she goes to prison she will go. the jury has the option if they kick it to the judge she will have that option. it is life without any possibility of parole. we're not talking about the kind of criminal who we are dealing with in that penalty -- even if you believe it's a legitimate penalty. >> just on that last point, chris. they really -- jurors always look at that. will this person kill again if we release her?

and i think they would have to say yes. she obviously picked this guy out, got into an affair with him. who's to say -- >> but she's not going to, paul. >> she'll be in prison someplace. would there be a prisoner? would she be out in 25 year because she's so good in prison that a governor decides to pardon her? very few people really do serve life in the united states. >> on the flip side, though, there is no greater burden to put on a jury than that which is before them right now. >> indeed. >> the decision of whether or not to take someone else's life. it is a very heavy burden, and certainly those 12 men and women have a job cut out for them. they did move very quickly to the penalty phase of this, seeing it as cruel how could you not? what happens next is going to be a very difficult situation for them, especially after listening to those victims having to go through all the evidence again. very difficult analysis. but i appreciate the legal points. paul, jami, great to see you both. thank you for joining me here on "the newsroom". >> thank you. >> thank you. 14 minutes past the hour now. up next, the devastation is

shocking. we want to take you to texas, take a look at what the tornadoes have done, ripping through a large section of communities there. homes destroyed. people have lost their lives. we're going to take you there and tell you how you can help those who have lost everything. ♪ fly me to the moon ♪ let me play among the stars ♪ and let me see what spring is like ♪ ♪ on jupiter and mars ♪ in other words [ male announcer ] the classic is back. ♪ i love [ male announcer ] the all-new chevrolet impala. chevrolet. find new roads. ♪ you

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welcome back. i want to take you back to phoenix. there is samantha alexander,ale this is the >> none of us ever thought that he wouldn't be here when we needed him the most. to think that someone so loving, so caring, so give iing could b taken from us, given the already tragic lives that we have lived, but to have travis taken so barbarically is beyond any words we can find to describe our horrific loss.

i cannot adequately express how much we will miss our brother. we all miss his contagious laughter, his singing voice mails, his jokes, his fun itty dances, his help in hard situations, his guidance when we are lost, his motivation, his insight, his huge smile. >> exhibit 661. >> and being there on the holiday holidays. travis was the glue in our family. our family has not been together since has been gone.

it's simply too hard to think of that one empty chair. we miss his charisma, his goal to make someone feel good about themselves and to make someone smile. no matter who they are or what they look like, travis had an incredible heart. he had a huge heart. and it was this huge heart and his kindness that will forever be missed. we were robbed of so many good memories, so many awesome moments with travis. our lives will never be the same. we can never get him back.

we are so grateful for our wonderful brother, and we feel so lucky and blessed for the time we had with travis, however short-lived. we would give anything to have him back. anything. thank you. >> we heard there the pained words of travis alexander's sister -- we can never get him back. remember, the jurors are sitting there, listening to these victim impact statements. they're going to have to look at what was taken, the life that was lost, balance it with anything they can see that could mitigate, that could lessen the cruelty of this crime, and then decide whether or not jodi arias deserves the death penalty. that's the hearing we're monitoring. we'll give you more when we have more information on it. we're going to move on now. we're just a couple of hours away from finding out what

investigators think might have caused a deadly fertilizer plant explosion that devastated the tiny town of west, texas. it's been almost a month since ammonium nitrate stored at the plant blew up so powerful it registered as an earthquake. the blast killed 14 people, many first responders, wiped out p t parts of the town. cnn's ed lavandera is west, texas, where state and federal investigators are prepared to hold a news conference to announce the results of their investigation. ed, what's the latest on what we can expect to hear? >> reporter: hello, chris. i just want to give you a sense of the backdrop you see behind me. this is a house not but a few hundred yards from the plant that exploded. the cleanup continues, a house we were in just a few days after it exploded. one of the neighborhoods that had been cordoned off for quite some time. what many people in this area are anxious to hear what kind of definitive answers investigators will provide this afternoon as to what might have caused the

fire that erupted inside the fertilizer plant and then moved to this bin of ammonium nitrate that exploded so dramatically that we saw nearly a month ago and kill sod many of the first responders who responded to the fire scene. but it's not clear, chris, if we will get a definitive answer, whether or not this will be something that -- a fire that started accidentally or if it was a case of arson. investigators say they have not ruled out any kind of criminal conduct in this case. of course, in the last few days there's been a great deal of intrigue surrounding a man by the name of bryce reed, a former ems worker here in the town of west who was arrested last week in charges of possessing a pipe bomb. authorities are not saying whether or not he is connected to the explosion investigation here at this point. his attorney insists that he had nothing to do with the explosion and is innocent of all the charges that have been filed against him. but regardless a lot of questions surrounding him, swirling around him, as to what exactly his role may or may not have been in this explosion. so far investigators aren't providing many answers.

we'll see if that it changes in the next couple of hours, chris. >> ed, let us know what you hear. thank forz the report. we'll be back in a little bit to you. we'll go elsewhere, north texas now, ten deadly tornadoes like this one causing at least six deaths. seven people are still missing. over 100 homes were just flattened overnight. we're getting a better glimpse today with daylight just how vicious the storm was. cars and houses in a habitat for humanity neighborhood literally ripped to sleds. look at the roof of a home in granbury, texas, neighborhood just wiped out. folks are combing through what's left of their homes, like you see there. rescue crews desperately searching subdivisions for the people still missing. alina machado is on the ground there in granbury. what's the latest you're hearing from people on the ground right now? >> reporter: chris thshgs is going to be a very long recovery effort for these people. we've seen a lot of destruction in this area, and we've also seen a great sense of community

among the people of granbury, texas. there have been dozens of volunteers out here all day picking up debris, putting them in neat piles for people who were affected by this storm, and this is kind of an example i want to show you over here of what they've been dealing with. this used to be a mobile home. we're told, thankfully, nobody was inside when the tornado hit. now, the area that we're in is about a mile from the hardest hit area, which is a subdivision called rancho vasos. we were able to look at the damage there. this is the place where six people died, six people lost their lives here. it's also where search and rescue crews have been focusing their efforts all day trying to find victims of this disaster. there are still seven people who are missing. now, we have heard from the city of granbury's spokesperson that their search and rescue operation has now changed into a search and recovery phase. had she would not elaborate beyond that. it is unclear, though, how long

that phase will take. chris? >> obviously that distinction is painful to hear because that means they don't believe they'll find people alive. hopefully they're wrong. hopefully we get some good news. and certainly no matter what develops there, there's so many who need help. alina, thanks for the reporting. visit our impact your world page at cnn.com/impact to see how you can help. when we come back, a very important controversy. the irs scandal, to hear it from the politicians, it's all about going after conservatives. what did the irs really do? what is it supposed to be doing? there are big questions we'll go through when we come back. would you take it? well, there is. [ male announcer ] it's called ocuvite. a vitamin dedicated to your eyes, from bausch + lomb. as you age, eyes can lose vital nutrients. ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. ocuvite is uniquely formulated

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welcome back to "newsroom." just about 3:30 eastern now. the president is trying in earnest to blunt the swirl of controversy that threatens to sap his second term in office. he's forced the resignation of steve miller, acting head of the irs, after the audit that showed conservative groups were singled out, forced to jump through hoops to gain tax exempt status. speaking shortly after noon from

the rose garden, the president said he is not finished trying to fix that mess. >> in addition to making sure that we've got a new acting director there, we're also going to make sure that we gather up the facts and hold accountable and responsible anybody who was involved in this. we're going to make sure that we identify any structural or management issues to prevent something like this from happ happening again. >> very serious questions. i will remind people the next time they look at those video, look how strong the marines are holding that umbrella and not moving. they're so impressive. they bring them in because it's raining and they are going to assume a military posture. they don't train to hold up umbrellas but look how seriously they take their job. just makes you love our troops a little more, those being two marines there. to serious matters, i'm going to throw you a second curveball here. jeff rirey toobin, constitution

scholar, writer of books. five i believe? >> six. >> where have i been? here's the curveball, ostensibly on the outside, this is about targeting republican groups, the irs basically admitted it, it's wrong, the president will do what he can to fix it. fair read? >> fair read. >> tell me this, if this is it not a greater source of concern, what will happen in the aftermath of this is the irs will stop doing this, they'll stop looking at these groups. that's dangerous, too, isn't it? >> that's the paradox here, that -- we use verbs like targeting and going after. it's the irs's job to investigate these groups when they are looking for a tax break. remember, they're not just randomly picking out groups. they are picking out groups that apply to be 501c-4 organizations. what that means is, you are primarily involved with social welfare issues, and, as a

result, you don't have to pay certain taxes and you don't have to disclose your donors. you're getting a benefit from the government if you are designated. but the government then has the obligation -- it's not like they're targeting people indiscriminately. they are on lobliged to look, a these political groups or social welfare organizations? the problem appears is that they were looking harder at the conservative groups, and that clearly was inappropriate. but investigating, they were supposed to do. that's their job. >> the dark money that gets into politics, which means what? fringe organizations exact lie like these on both sides, that's the concern of money and politics right now, right? >> that haes a big issue. for example, in the 2012 campaign, karl rove had an organization called -- i'm forgetting the name of it. it was one of the big organizations, and it was a 501c-4 organization, and it was not obliged to disclose its donors. many democrats were upset about

that. there have been groups on the left funding democratic campaigns that didn't have to disclose donors. that is what the worry is, that the irs will throw up its hands, say anybody can be a 501 -- >> it will happen. this is why we say that. why does this matter? the irs is looking because you're only supposed to spend 49% of your money on political activity and the fear is that all of these groups are exceeding it. that would be the generality that makes the irs have to look. >> right. >> why do i say, oh, they're not going to look anymore? because in 2011 the irs went to congresses and said, we believe you should tax donors of these groups because they're just doing political activity, shouldn't be 501c-4. they got huge pushback, republicans saying, you're just doing this for political reasons, are you just doing this because ever the left? they backed off. the man who just resigned backed off the most. steve miller said, forget it, we'll stop all these audits. and they stopped the audits in

process. true? >> that is not only true, most of these groups -- the vast majority of the groups, we don't know for sure, but it certainly appears the vast majority were approved for 501c-4 status. so it's not like they suffered some enormous penalty except having to fill out forms and answer questions, but if you are concerned about money in politics, you know -- my mentor in journalism was a guy named michael kensley who said, the scandal isn't what's illegal, the scandal is what's legal. what we choose not to punish, that tells you -- >> that's this. >> all the money in politics is completely legal. >> this is the easy part, the guys in cincinnati for the irs were doing something wrong. if it was politically motivated, if those are answered yes, yes, that is easy. keeping the dark money out of the game so people's votes count, that's a bigger problem. >> we have tried in many ways over years and never -- >> that's the concern the irs will stop doing its job because it's afraid of political repr e

reprises. >> always sounds better come out of your mouth. thank you. >> thank you. just a short time ago, emotional testimony from the family of the man killed, travis alexander, the victim of jodi arias. his brother and sister spoke in front of the court, described just what he meant to the family. their tearful plea to the jury deciding whether jodi arias deserves the death penalty when we come back. ♪ fly me to the moon ♪ let me play among the stars ♪ and let me see what spring is like ♪ ♪ on jupiter and mars ♪ in other words [ male announcer ] the classic is back. ♪ i love [ male announcer ] the all-new chevrolet impala. chevrolet. find new roads. ♪ you before i do any projects on on my own.st at angie's list, you'll find reviews written by people just like you. i love my contractor, and i am so thankful to angie's list

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welcome back to "newsroom" 0. in the jodi arias trial, the murder of travis alexander has, quote, invaded the dreams of his brother steven. steven and his sister testified in the last hour at arias' sentencing hearing. take a listen. >> i cannot sleep alone in the dark anymore. i've had dreams of my brother all curled up in the shower, thrown in there, left to rot for days, all alone. i don't want these nightmares anymore. i don't want to have to see my brother's murderer anymore. i don't want to hear his name dragged through the mud anymore. i've been hospitalized several times for ulcers and came very near death. i've been on several different

antidepressants. >> very powerful words there for the jury who are contemplating right now, they must be unanimous in the death penalty, otherwise the judge will decide whether or not this is life in prison without parole or possibility of parole. "i don't want to see her anymore." the brother, victim impact statement, to the jury, obviously referring to jodi arias. this is the big moment for jurors, a very difficult decision on what would keep them from giving the death penalty would be mitigating factors or just a feeling that this dricri aas terrible as it is, isn't worthy of death. we'll be monitoring the situation, we'll go to beth karas now, correspondent for our sister network, hln. you hear me talking about how difficult this is for the jury. you're in the room, looking at the jury. what seems to be resonating? >> reporter: you know, there were a lot of tissues dabbing eyes and noses in the courtroom in the public gallery, but i

kept an eye on that jury, and i didn't see any tears from them. one ever the forewomen maybe reached up to her eyes to wipe away a tear, but it wasn't absolutely clear. but they were stone-faced. they just looked very, very serious as they listened to two very passionate, teary statements, one from steven who was in the army when he got word, and then his sister samantha who's a police officer in carlsbad. she said some of those photos of her brother are worse than anything she has seen in her 11 year onz ts on the police force >> beth, when you look at the law, the mitigating factors, the categories don't jump out as available much. maybe victim's actionses the defendant arguing that travis' actions in the bathroom serve as a mitigating factor, forcing her to defend herself. but that didn't go over well at trial, didn't seem to be a factor for the jury before. what does that seem to suggest to you? >> reporter: well, you know, it's interesting you raise that, chris, because they've listed

eight mitigating factors right now drawing on jodi arias' past in her life, and they did not list that one. the jury rejected that. and i think they figured, let's not rub their faces in it because they rejected it. so they're saying she's a good artist. she lacked family support. she suffered abuse as a child and an adult. that's the closest they came to talking at that travis alexander's conduct. but they listed eight, her age at 27. that's not so youthful, you know right from wrong when you're 27 years old. so we'll see what the jury does with it. they have to find substantial and sufficient evidence -- at least one mitigator or more of these eight -- that would call for leniency, that would call for a life sentence over death. >> beth, thank you so much for the perspective. don't forget, everybody, catch beth on dr. drew's program tonight 9:00 p.m. eastern only on hln. thanks for that, beth. we're going to go to break right now. when we come back, one of these studies that kind of plays with our balance of what's good for us and bad for us.

salt. too much is bad, right? is it? how much again? new study, new information on salt on the other side of the break. matt's brakes didn't sound right... ...so i brought my car to mike at meineke...

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will co welcome back to "newsroom." i'm chris cuomo in new york. we love the salt, the problem is it hurts our heart. a new study suggests having that extra pinch of salt may not be so bad for you after all. the report interest the institute of medicine found there simply wasn't enough evidence to say that lowering salt consumption to the recommended levels could increase or decrease your risk of heart disease. and get this. the report also found that decreasing your salt intake too much could actually hurt your health. how much do you have to reduce it for that to happen? let's bring in a real doctor here, dr. ian smith in chicago. always good to see you, ian. what does this study mean to

you? >> first of all, chris, let me just say that these kind ever studies are the bane of my existence and everyone else who has to decipher and report on these issues. let's be clear. for a long time, the recommended amount of salt intake per day has been 1500 to 2300 milligrams. 2300 milligrams is about one teaspoon of salt. the reason we've recommended the 1500 is for subgroups, african-americans, those with high blood pressure, diabetes, chronic kidney disease. these are people who need to lower their salt intake to 1500 mill grams, we've said. this study, let's be clear what it says. this study is looking at that subgroup saying that taking them down to 1500 milligrams may or may not be beneficial. it does not, however, recommend what the minimum or the maximum should be. so big organizations like the american heart association is standing by its recommendations because there's a lot of problems with the methodology of

the studies that were examined by this new body. >> all right. and the headline here is for people not in the subgroup, as you define it, that we eat so much more salt than we're supposed to have already, right, so that's what people have to keep in mind. tell us about it, doctor. >> the average person consumes about 3400 milligrams of salt a day. that is way too much by everyone's standard. remember, chris, it's not what people added add to their food, typically processed food. go to the frozen food section, the frozen foods. i tell everyone, look at how many milligrams are in there. now, what we're saying here is, maybe going down to 1500 is not necessary, but we are still saying that you should bring it down to 2300, which is a lot less than what most people are getting right now. >> and that's the problem. so we were looking for a silver lining in the study, but at the end frt day, dr. ian smith we need to cut down on salt, we eat too much.

bottom line, right? >> salt increases your blood pressure, which increases your chances of heart disease or stroke. absolutely keep it down. >> thank you, doctor. 47 past the hour. right now, when we come back, there's been a lot of controversy around the plan b pill, but now it's been implicated in a homicide. how and why, after the break. hmm, it says here that cheerios helps lower cholesterol

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the son of a florida obstetrician is charged with first degree murder for allegedly tricking his pregnant girlfriend into taking an abortion pill, killing her fetus. federal investigators say 28-year-old john andrew well done told the woman that his father, who is a doctor, determined she had a bacterial infection and had prescribed the antibiotic amoxicillin to treat it. court records say he replaced

the antibiotic with a drug used to induce labor and the fetus died. the victim talked to cnn affiliate, wfts. >> i was never going to do anything except go full term with it. he did not want me to. he came over to my home with the pills that he had, the weapon of choice. he told me to keep taking them. i was supposed to take three a day for days. >> john weldon could face life in prison if he's convicted of murder. it's 52 minutes past the hour. when we come back, spy games, just 48 hours after russia says it's detained an american spy, there's now word this isn't the first time it's happened in recent months, according to them. details when we come back. ted is now on hold with his insurance company.

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developing story now that raises more questions than it answers. another u.s. spy expelled from russia. an anonymous russian security agent say it is u.s. diplomat was expelled in january for trying to recruit a russian agent. remember, this reported expulsion occurred before american diplomat ryan fogel was detained earlier this week. you remember the pictures of him with the wig and the hat and the od-colored tan skin. russia demanded head be expelled for trying to recruit a russian security services member. >> translator: we can say this

is not the first instance of espionage in which this american took part n. january of this year, another agent from the cia was expelled after attempting to recruit russian citizens. >> the cia is refusing to comment on ryan fogel. the state department confirmation an officer at the u.s. embassy in moscow was briefly detained and released. this story will continue. got to get some more answers there. 56 minutes past the hour. we'll take a break. when we come back, amazing video. watch the scroller. a mother loses her train of thought for a moment. what happens next. we'll tell you on the other side of the break. we learned a lot of us have known someone who's lived well into their 90s. and that's a great thing. but even though we're living longer, one thing that hasn't changed much is the official retirement age. ♪ the question is how do you make sure you have the money you need to enjoy all of these years. ♪

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take a look at this. a philadelphia train station. a moother loses focus for a second. the stroller rolls, rolls, down into the tracks. there's a toddler in that stroller. the mother jumps in, saves her baby. baby is fine, but a reminder of how careful you have to be, lock up those strollers. you never know when you'll get a

little pitch like that. you don't see people do anything. it makes you upset, right? don't be. it was a bystander that hit the alert button that stopped the train from coming. the baby fine, the mother saved her child. "the lead with jake tapper" starts right now. it's 4:00 p.m. do you know where your individual's identified as known or suspected terrorists are? the federal government didn't. i'm jake tapper and this is "the lead." the national lead, the story we just broke. suspected terrorists in the u.s. entered into the witness protection program. they were given new names, but the justice department did not tell any other agencies, and at one point, poof, two of them disappeared. another stunning example of government incompetence in a week with no shortage of them. the politics lead, with the disappearing terror suspects, a polize