mr. blitzer. thanks very. happening now a kidnapped teen didn't even know that her mother and brother had been murdered until she was rescued. now the father of hannah anderson is about to speak out on that rescue and on the tragedy that struck his family. we'll bring it to you live this hour. >> a quarter of the world's prisoners are incarcerated right here in the united states and the attorney general of the united states unveils a bold new plan to reform what he calls a broken criminal justice system. >> and it's bad enough when the boss says you're fired, but what if it happens on a conference call with a thousand colleagues listening in? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." we begin with an extraordinary rescue. 16-year-old hannah anderson safe after a harrowing week-long ordeal that ended with the death of the man authorities say kidnapped her and killed her

mother and her brother. just minutes from now anderson's father will speak to the news media for the first time since being reunited with his daughter. when that happens, we'll bring it to you live here in "the situation room." we're also learning chilling new details in authorities about her time in captivity, including that she never knew her family members were dead. what is the latest, paul? >> reporter: well, wolf, we have confirmed that fbi agents found on dimaggio, the suspect, after he was taken down a long gun and a handgun. the sheriff telling us off camera he had a shoulder weapon and he fired once. clearly the fbi returning with lethal force. if you've seen the video, they went into the mountains armed to the teeth with automatic weapons. we understand that hannah is in california. her father will speak soon,

momentarily. as you pointed out earlier, detectives telling us that hannah and had no idea that her little brother and her mother had been killed, wolf. >> the fbi was able to track them down from the air and on the ground, but all of this came from a tip from some local folks out there. explain what happened. >> well, these country-wise folks, including a former sheriff, said it was a one in a trillion chance in this massive wilderness area, they were on horseback when they came upon this couple, a young girl and dimaggio. of course they said they just stood out there in the idaho wilderness. let's take a listen. >> when we went to the lake and they showed up at the lake and they were just like a square peg going into a round hole. they didn't fit. he might have been an outdoorsman in california, but he was not an outdoorsman in idaho and he didn't fit. >> and later on that night the

sheriff seeing hannah's picture on television called his sources with the idaho state police and from there, wolf, the search was on. >> we're going to be awaiting this statement from the father of hannah anderson. we'll have it live this hour. we'll see if he takes questions as well. a dramatic development, paul. stand by, we'll come back to you. >> meantime, other news, including a dramatic move by the attorney general eric holder. he says america's prison population has grown at an astounding 800% in the last three decades and he's unveiled a bold new plan to try to reform what he says is basically a broken criminal justice system in the united states. jessica yellin is joining us now. she's got the details. >> reporter: wolf, the attorney says the nation's overcrowding problem is costing the u.s. too much money, is leading to more crime when prisoners are released and it's often the

result of unfair sentencing practices. so he's making changes. a major change in the way prison sentences will be handed down, ordered by the nation's top law enforcement officer. >> it was an outsized, unnecessarily large prison population, we need to ensure that incarceration is used to punish, to deter and to rehabilitate but not merely to warehouse and to forget. >> reporter: attorney general eric holder announced the justice department will stop seeking mandatory minimum sentences for offenders accused of low-level, non-violent drug crimes like a small-time drug courier. instead they'll ask to send them to drug programs and outpatient treatment programs. >> this is a time of progress and innovation. this is our promise to forge a more just society.

>> reporter: he says he's discussed inequalities in the criminal justice system with the president for years, an issue the president addressed in emotional remarks after the trayvon martin verdict. >> there is a history of racial disparities in the application of our criminal laws. >> reporter: according to holder, the u.s. holds an astounding 25% of the world's prisoners. our federal prisons are 40% over capacity and the nation spent $80 billion on the prison system in the year 2010, all of which may explain the unusual bipartisan support for ending mandatory minimum sentences that ranges from tea party republican rand paul -- >> some argue with evidence that our drug laws are biased. >> -- to the aclu. wolf, the attorney general has

mandated these changes using his power as a federal official, but there's also support in the u.s. senate for further changes that would give judges more discretion in their own sentencing. among the senators who support revising these laws are tea party favorites rand paul and mike lee, who are joining with some of the president's allies. bipartisan coalitions like that could possibly get something done, even in this grid locked down. >> you would think general ran paul joining senator patrick leahy, but there are opponents as well so we'll see where that goes. the attorney general also voiced outrage at racial inequities and punishments handed down across the country. >> once they're in that system, people of color often face harsher punishments than their peers. one deeply troubles report, at least in february of this year,

indicates that in recent years black male offenders have received sentences nearly 20% longer than those non-blacks of similar crimes. that is shameful. >> why are they doing this now? >> well, this is obama presidency, second term legacy building. this is a chance for the attorney general, eric holder, who is probably leaving office in the next few months and for the president to do something i think they want to be remembered for. this is something the president and the attorney general apparently have been talking about for several years. so you see i think an effort here on the part of the attorney general eric holder to leave office perhaps with something other than fast and furious to

be remembered by. >> it's a huge deal. i was a little surprised that eric holder made the announcement instead of the president of the united states. you've covered the justice department and you're new to cnn, you use to work at the wall street journal. were you a little surprised the president let eric holder do this as opposed to the president making the announcement? >> i think it's one of those things that the president of the white house wanted to make sure the attorney general gets some kind of press conference, something he can be remembered for other than. so scandals. >> excellent point. if this goes through, still an if, does this mean the dea and fbi can focus on other stuff? >> yes. the resources can be put toward hot spots to fight those issues.

>> and some of the huge amounts of money spent can be freed up for other purposes as well. >> that's right. >> evan perez, our newest member here, welcome to cnn. this will be an excellent ride for you and for all of us. >> after 5 million stops, half of them involving sources, a new york city federal judge ruled the frisk law is unconstitutional. the class action lawsuit finally went to trial this spring. he's not in beirut, he's not in isl islamabad, he's in new york. tell us what's going on? >> it's a policy loathed by many black and latino new yorkers, something they've avidly complained about for over a decade. leroy downs was sitting on the step outside his on home just like this when it happened.

>> the officers drove past me, went up the street, reversed, came back, jumped out and they approached me. >> what did they say their reason for that was? >> you look like you're smoking weed. i said to them, i'm talking on the cell phone. they cursed at me and said get against the fence and started pushing me toward fence and commenced searching me. >> reporter: the police found nothing on downs, no guns or drugs. >> they're going to search you and it is what it is. if you resist, they say you could be charged with resisting arrest. >> reporter: when you talk about it, you seem to shake a little bit. why? >> because i've been through so much throughout my life. it's one of the reasons i took part, i want it to stop. >> reporter: but the mayor and commissioner say they have to

continue to reduce crimes,s that why they will appeal. >> we go to where the crimes are. those happen to be poor neighborhoods. >> if history is any guide, those lives saved were overwhelmingly the lives of young men of color. >> reporter: today a federal judge said police reasoning didn't add up. police stopped 4.4 million people from 2004 to mid 2012, 87% of them black or latino. just 12% were charged with crimes. the reasons given for the stops, so-called furtive movements, being in high-crime areas or having a suspicious bulge. the judge found the searches unconstitutional and noted within nypd official said it is

permissible to stop racially defined groups just to instill fear in them. the tactic did instill fear in david when he was sit hearing when he was surrounded by nine officers who rushed him with guns draw. they, too, found nothing. the judge's ruling made him weep. >> it's hard to explain. i'm -- i think actually there is something i'll say. i think it's a really good picture of what's going on in society. this is a big thing for new york, but as far as america as a whole, it shows the polarization of people of color in this country as how we're viewed. >> reporter: now, wolf, the judge ruled that police will have to have an independent monitor to watch how this process is phased out and she even said some police would in fact have cameras mounted possible them to assist in surveillance.

police say they will appeal this verdict but tonight there is a significant legal judgment but many people watching around in new york on the streets to see if that actually causes police behavior to change at all, wolf. >> nick payton walsh in new york the next couple weeks reporting. thank you. coming up, hannah anderson's father speaking out for the first time since her extraordinary rescue. >> up next, an american sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in north korea, he's now in a hospital there in failing health. i'll speak to the sister kenneth bay. see life in the best light. [music] transitions® lenses automatically filter just the right amount of light. so you see everything the way it's meant to be seen. experience life well lit, ask for transitions adaptive lenses.

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years in hard labor in north korea has been moved to a new facility. paula hancocks got a rare look, and she's now in seoul, seoul korea. >> we see him in a labor camp. now we see him in a pyongyang hospital. >> i broke the law. that's why i'm in the labor camp. i think a high level u.s. official should come and bring me back to the u.s. i think the official should come and apologize on behalf of the u.s. government to get early release. this is my request to the u.s. government. >> kenneth bay was sentenced in april to 15 years in a labor camp for what the regime calls hostile acts to bring down the governments. his family says he is a tour operator with a missionary background. he was visited by a swedish

diplomat. bay's health is deteriorating. the pro north korean group that spoke to bay in hospital says he has a spinal injury, lumbar and ser cervical pain and gallstones. his sister tells me he's lost 50 pounds since november. bay says he's concerned his health will deteriorate against once he returned to the camp. 218 candles were lit on saturday, one for each day kenneth bay has been held in north korea. >> it's been incredibly difficult. it's been -- just there's absolutely nothing we can do really. we can do everything we can to try to raise awareness, write letters to people who can, to have the power to advocate for him. we don't have that.

we're just trying to do everything we can to spread the word and appeal to those who do have the power to bring him home. >> the u.s. government has called for bay's released on humanitarian grounds. there's news that former president jimmy carter may travel to arrange for his release. >> and terry chung, bay's sister is joining us now. as far as former president jimmy carter going to north korea to bring your father out of there, have you heard anything specific on that pronfront? >> no, we heard there was a

miscommunication, that he has no immediate plans to go to north korea. >> you have received some letters from your brother. tell us about his condition. you say he's lost 50 pounds. i think he has diabetes as well. is he getting insulin? >> he does have diabetes medicines that we have been sending him. he has diabetes, he has other chronic conditions such as he's developed kidney stones and an enlarged heart and some severe back pain that seems to have been causing him significant trouble, which i think led to his hospitalization, among -- along with his other symptoms. >> so he's now in a hospital in pyongyang. do you believe he's getting good treatment? >> we hope so. we know he was been moved to a hospital and we hope that's

getting him the medical care that he needs. >> what else does he need in addition to medical care? is he getting letters, for example, from you, as far as you can tell? >> it seems to be the case. he refers to things that we have told him in the letters. so i think he is getting the letters. i'm not sure how quickly but he does seem to be getting the letters. and also that he's incredibly just grateful for the support of the letters that have come in from strangers, that journalists have set up gmail. so he's been getting those as well. >> i know they get cnn international there. if they're watching us now, is there anything you want to say to the north korean government? >> we would say we are -- we

understand that kenneth has been convicted of crimes under your laws and we sincerely apologize on his behalf. we know he only had the best of intentions for north korea and we plead for to you let him come home to his family. we are extremely concerned about his health and we beg for your mercy to grant him amnesty and allow him to come home. >> let's home he does come home soon. terry chung is the sister of kenneth bae. thanks very much and good luck. >> thank you for having me. >> coming up, the father of hannah anderson is about to speak out for the first time since the dramatic rescue of his daughter over the weekend. you're going to see it live coming up in the situation room. la's known definitely for its traffic, congestion, for it's smog. but there are a lot of people that do ride the bus.

and now that the busses are running on natural gas, they don't throw out as much pollution to the earth. so i feel good. i feel like i'm doing my part to help out the environment. and my family moved es, straight to chicago. d america is the only country i have ever known. senior year of high school, i was promoted to city court staff commander, i held the rank of cadet brigadier general. i was head of chicago rotc. i want to be a us citizen and i want to be a marine, i'm gonna be a marine, because i care. i care about this country. i care about those around me, i care about my family, my neighbors. you know, i do want to give back, i believe one hundred percent in what this country stands for. let me earn it, you know, let me serve.

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happening now, hannah anderson's father breaking his silence for the first time since his extraordinary rescue. the news conference just minutes away. when it happens, we'll go there live, you'll see it, you'll hear it. plus hillary clinton in the spotlight as speculation grows about 2016. you're going to hear from her live in the next hour. and you're fired. a former aol employee gets the ax from his boss in a very public way, with 1,000 co-workers listening in. i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the situation room." just minutes from now we're

going to take you live to the father of hannah anderson. he's speaking out for the first time since her extraordinary rescue after a week of captivity in which he killed her mother and brother and kidnapped her. they should be walking out momentarily. the sheriff, the fbi agent in charge as well as the dad. >> reporter: absolutely. all three of them going to address the media here. this is one of those moments where we might as well play some show and tell. show to the left here. this is where the father will exit. you can see there's quite a conglomeration of people over here. if you come back over to the right, mike love, you can see all the media, as well as quite a few high-ranking detectives and others anxiously awaiting the word from brett anderson, from the sheriff and from the special agent in the fbi. in our business this happens

sometimes, you have eight days here where you're getting the information piecemeal. we may learn more in about the next five minutes than we knew for eight days as they begin to reveal more about the successful rescues of hannah anderson, how she never knew she had been kidnapped. cnn confirming he had a handgun and a long gun. we'll go to the right. >> looks like they're walking over. brett anderson is the father of hannah. he's there as well. i assume bill gore, the san diego sheriff, will speak first. they're about to the introduced by a communications specialist there. and the special agent in charge of the san diego office will speak as well. >> sheriff gore will being speaking and then fbi assistant special agent in charge rob howe

will make a statement. i'd like to introduce brett anderson. >> thank you and thank you all for coming. i would first like to thank all of the branches of the law enforcement involved in their quick actions and professionalism in all aspects of this investigation. i would also like to thank mary and mike young, mark and crista john for without you, who knows how long this would have gone on. my family and i are eternally grateful. as a family we offer a special thank you to our local sheriff department and the individuals from them and the fbi who have been by our families from the beginning for their tireless efforts. i want to thank all who spread the word, shared their hearts and thoughts through social media. because of this, this reached across and beyond the u.s. have no doubt that this did make a difference. though relentless, i would also like to thank you, the media. all of your coverage, keeping

the issue alive helped with bringing my daughter home. as a country, there are many missing children. though some of them -- some of you might find the amber alert annoying, please, pay attention, keep your eyes open, let's bring those children home. no one should have to go through this. now it's time for to us grieve and move on to the healing process. i respectively ask you to give me, all of our family and our friends the respect and time to allow this to happen. as for my daughter, the healing process will be slow. she has been through a tremendous, horrific ordeal. i am very proud of her and i love her very much. she is surrounded by the love of her family rn, friends and community.

again as family give us the time to grieve and heal. thank you. >> hi. i'm sheriff bill gore. i want to thank you all for being here and add my thanks to those of brett's for your outstanding coverage of this terrible abduction and crime. it's clear that had it not been for the media coverage, that the hikers up in idaho would have never known that the two people they saw along the trail were hannah and dimaggio. during the law enforcement interviews with hannah, it became very clear to us, very clear, that she is a victim in every sense of the word in this horrific crime. from the time of her abduction in boulevard to her recovery in idaho by the fbi's hostage rescue team, she was under extreme, extreme duress. it was also during the interview

with hannah after her recovery in idaho that she was first told about the deaths of her mother and her little brother. also during the interview with hannah, she revealed that dimaggio had a rifle and that he fired at least one round prior to being shot and killed by the hostage team riflemen. this investigation continues. we'll be conducting more interviews, we'll be reviewing the crime scene results from the boulevard fires, from the car recovered in idaho and from the camp site at lake moorehead. we're continuing this investigation so that we can answer all the possible questions that result from this type of horrific, horrific crime. our primary concern, however, is for the well being of hannah anderson and her family. as brett has stated already, they've experienced a horrific

ordeal and tragic loss. we would appreciate your help in giving them that time to heal and to grieve. thank you very much and i'll turn it over to assistant special agent in charge rob howe from the fbi, who will make a few brief comments and then we'll answer a few questions, as many as we can, before ending. go ahead, rob. >> thank you, sir. on behalf of the fbi family, let me just say that we offer our done do condolences and deepest sympathies to the anderson family for the losses they have endured and we echo mr. anderson's statements they need the time to grieve and get back to a somewhat normal lifestyle without the interruptions we have presented to them. the fbi very much appreciates the law enforcement partnerships we have throughout the country, not just hear in san diego, but it's the partnership we enjoy

here with the san diego police department that allow us to bring our resources to bear when state, local and regional resources aren't enough. we're very proud of the relationship we have here and are proud we were able to bring this to the ending that we did. >> let me add the fbi is conducting a shooting investigation up in idaho. so there won't be any real details coming out about exactly what happened in the confrontation. i'm sure when the investigation is complete, those results will be released. i want to echo also what rob said, about the type of relationships and type of investigative work that was done here. it's something that you rarely see i think on this level where you have federal and that's not just the fbi but the u.s. marshall service, customs and border protection, the idaho state police, the california highway patrol, the sheriff's department in valley county and

ada county in hyidaho and the fugitive office that -- >> reporter: can you tell us some of the things that went on during hannah's capture? >> we're not going to discuss that out of hannah's respect and her need to heal from this. >> reporter: can you tell us where she is? >> she's back in san diego with family members and she's doing as well as can be expected after the terrible ordeal she's been through. >> reporter: do you have any motive? >> i'm not going to discuss any motive or any of the specifics. we're still -- the investigation is still ongoing and we have people interviewed, crime scene results to be examined and evidence to be reviewed from the car up in idaho and the crime

scene in -- >> reporter: did hannah try to escape? >> i'm not going to answer that. i can't make it clearer. she is a victim. she was under extreme duress from the time she left boulevard until the time she was recovered in idaho. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> no. i mean, the report from the four hikers on horseback in idaho was the key event that took us in that area, led us to the discovery of the vehicle and the subsequent discovery of them camping by moorehead. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> as reported by the two couples that saw them along the trail, they had backpacks, they had supplies they took in with them, although the people from idaho thought they were not really prepared for the

wilderness they were in up there in idaho. >> reporter: how was hannah unaware that the rest of her family [ inaudible ]. >> you have to look at the size of the complex in boulevard. there are several buildings up there and she was unaware of what happened, that her mother and her brother had been killed. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> the fbi interviewer and forensic interviewer in idaho did the interview with her and explained to her and revealed to her about her mother and brother's death. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> i'm not going to go into any type of details on that but she was under duress the whole time. >> reporter: do we have a time in idaho when the amber alert went out up there ithere? >> the amber alert had not been put out in idaho until after the four campers came across them on

the trail. subsequent to that, i think that would have been thursday the amber alert was released in idaho. we'd done it in california, oregon and washington, up into british colombia but not into idaho. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> we're still in the process of putting all that investigative material together. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. can you give us a sense if dimaggio was trying to booby-trap the camp and how many agents returned fire? >> i don't have the results of the crime scene investigation in idaho that's being done. probably being done still as we speak. i do know from the interview of hannah he did have a rifle and he fired at least one shot. beyond that, that will come out in the fbi's shooting team investigation they're doing up there. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> she was in the close

proximity to dimaggio when he was shot and killed. >> reporter: how close? >> i don't know. >> reporter: was the rifle fired at the time of the confrontation with the fbi -- >> approximate time. at least one shot was fired, s possibly a second and he was shot and killed shortly thereafter. as far as we know, dimaggio fired his weapon first. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> i don't know. i don't know. >> reporter: what about the cat? supposedly there was a gray cat with them that the horseback riders saw? >> that was his cat. >> reporter: did they recover the cat? >> i don't know. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> we're not ready to release the results of that yet. >> reporter: how long were they there to stay out there? >> i don't have that information. sorry. >> reporter: [ inaudible ].

>> we've had that reported to us what she supposedly said under her breath as the four hikers drove off. i don't know and i'm not sure we know what she meant by that. if she was asked that specifically, i haven't heard those results. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> i'm not going to discuss details of her abduction other than she was under extreme duress. >> reporter: do you think dimaggio was headed to canada? >> i don't know. he was familiar with that area of the country, in idaho. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> i didn't say it was planned. i think that was will come out as we do more investigation. we don't think this was a spur of the moment thing but i'm not prepared to go into details of why we believe that. >> reporter: [ inaudible ].

>> as has been reported extensively in the media, she was not a stranger to his house. a lot of people would go over there. for her to go to that residence was not unusual. it was after she arrived there that some of these horrific crimes took place. >> reporter: was she there when the fire -- [ inaudible ]. >> a matter of hours from the time they thought they saw the tent from some aerial surveillance until fbi teams were inserted into the area and made their way towards the camp site. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> i'm sorry? >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> no. >> reporter: what can you tell us about the [ inaudible ]. >> not prepared to talk about that yet. sorry.

>> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> her mother? we can't tell you that. don't know. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> not that i'm aware of. okay. okay. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> we're doing a lot of investigation remains to be done, a lot of people to interview, comparing what we learn in interviews with results of crime scene investigations and searches of cars in the idaho area. we have a long way to go on this to determine a timeline. we might never know some of these answers. when you get an irrational act with two murders and a kidnapping, sometimes you're not able to come up with a rational answer of what happened. >> reporter: can you characterize the mood of your department -- >> i think everybody is

gratified that we got hannah back alive. we're sad for the lost of christina and ethan. it's a tragedy. but as far as hannah being recovered, that was a good day for law enforcement all over the country. and i thank you again, the media, for all your help in helping us locate her. with that i will -- last -- >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> i don't know. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> i have no idea. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> no. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> i think there will be ways with any new technology, there are always ways to improve it. i think it worked. one of the things i'm aware of from my own alert i got on my

iphone is that the alert pops up and then after you've read it, it's gone so you can't just go back in like would you a text message and look at it again to determine what that license number was if you see the car. i think those are some of the things they're working on, to make it retrievable in your iphone or smartphone, so if you think you see something, can you refresh your memory of what you saw. with that, thank you very much for being here. appreciate it. >> so the san diego county sheriff, bill gore, wrapping up a news conference with the father, brett anderson. his daughter was found alive. she is okay, the dad brett anderson saying it was a horrendous ordeal that he went through, he's very proud of her, i love her. the sheriff insisting, saying she was a victim, she was under extreme duress during this ordeal. let's get some analysis right now. joining us the psychotherapist

robbie ludwig and mark klaas, whose own daughter was murdered. this poor 16-year-old girl must be going through hell right now. she was kidnapped by a 40-year-old man, who supposedly was a very close friend of this family. >> i'm sure she is having a range of emotions, including survival guilt, post traumatic stress, maybe even a feeling of betrayal. this was a man who was befriended by the family and confused her by saying he had a crush on her. i'm sure she's even blaming herself, which is unfortunate because this is not her fault at all. >> do you have some advice for this young woman, this 16-year-old, mark? >> oh, yes, absolutely, wolf. she needs to stick with the love of her family and she needs to find counseling. it's going to require a long time for her to get over the trauma of the last week.

everything in her life is different today than it was say eight days ago. absolutely everything. it's been turned upside down. she now has to deal with the new normal. >> her dad basically says to the news media thanks for helping find our daughter but at the same time saying this is the time they want their privacy, which i assume is pretty smart. right, mark? >> oh, absolutely. i remember when we were going through a similar situation when we found out that polly had died. we had a great relationship with the media but all of a sudden the loss was so overwhelming. now brett has had this loss but he's also had this entire week of not knowing what's happening with his daughter. so i think that the array of emotions that he's gone through, i think need as few moments to st back, collect himself and process what's happened. >> do you have any advice for this young woman, robbie? >> you absolutely. she should know this is going to

take time, she needs to speak to a counselor who she can trust and share her feelings with, that it may take her a while to trust herself but as long as she's around loving family, she should try to get back to her schedule as soon as she feels comfortable. time can heal and it may take her a time to figure out why this did happen, if she can ever figure out the why. it is possible to move forward in a healthy way. >> i want both of you to stand by, if you ever don't mind. and this note to our viewers, like father like son. there are eerie similarities between the man who kidnapped hannah anderson and his father decades ago.

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we're back in "the situation room." we just heard from the father of hannah anderson, the 16-year-old woman who was abducted, held in idaho and freed after james dimaggio was shot by authorities who were hunting for him. let's go back to paul. the dad spoke out emotionally about his daughter. and you've been covering this from the beginning, paul. tell us a new answer to what did you learn during this news conference that made us all a little bit more knowledgeable how it all came down? >> reporter: one thing is that

the sheriff says that hannah anderson had no idea about the massive fire that erupted on dimaggio's property, and perhaps the reason for that, a sprawling three-acre spread. and later on revealing again, as we confirmed on cnn, that she had no idea that her little brother and her mother had been killed. we also need to turn to brett anderson, the father. just heart wrenching. he's lost his wife. he's lost his son. and he reiterated to everyone here that the healing process is going to be slow for hannah. he thanked the news media and the sheriff's detectives as well as the fbi where for their dogged pursuit and saying it couldn't have been done without the help of everybody, wolf. >> very emotional stuff. robbie ludwig is helping us better appreciate this young 16-year-old. she's lost her mom, her little brother ethan. she's now been saved. she's going to have a tough time going forward. >> yes. this is going to be a lifelong

process of healing, because it's going to take time for her to make sense out of everything that happened. and i think what's different about this abduction is that she also is going to have survival guilt, surviving her mother and little brother who are now dead. she might blame herself. and very often, people blame themselves because they want to take control of what feels like a very out-of-control situation. so she's going to have to grieve and really take care of her emotions, be around very supportive people right now to get through this tough time. >> and one thing we learned, we knew this already, mark, and you've been involved in this, those amber alerts. they really do work, as irritating as they can often be, they do help save lives. >> there's no question about that. i wish they would do a few things. i wish they would lighten up the criteria because my daughter would not have qualified for an amber alert. and i also wish they would put it back in the hands of the jurisdictional authority.

because otherwise, once you start bumping it up into a bureaucracy, a lot of time gets wasted just deciding whether or not the alert should be activated. but obviously in this case it worked perfectly. >> certainly did. mark klaas, thank you. we'll have much more on this story coming up at the top of the hour, including like father, like son. eerie similarities between the man who was said to have kidnapped hannah anderson and the incident involving his father decades ago. also up next, an aol employee gets fired by his boss in a very public way. we have the videotape. jackie: there are plenty of things i prefer to do on my own. but when it comes to investing, i just think it's better to work with someone. someone you feel you can really partner with. unfortunately, i've found that some brokerage firms don't always encourage that kind of relationship. that's why i stopped working at the old brokerage, and started working for charles schwab. avo: what kind of financial consultant are you looking for?

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painful enough being called into your boss's office and told you're fired. now imagine that same conversation with a thousand of your co-workers listening in. here's cnn's john berman. >> reporter: it may be donald trump's favorite expression. >> you're fired. >> reporter: but they're the two words you never want to hear from your boss. >> you're fired. out. >> one former employee of internet giant aol just got the axe in a very public way. 1,000 people listened in as his boss gave him the boot. >> you're fired. out. >> aol's ceo tim armstrong fired an executive during a conference call set out for layoffs. patch reportedly tried to take a picture of armstrong and it didn't end well. >> put that camera downright now. abel, you're fired.

out. >> reporter: later on the conference call, armstrong is quoted as telling employees, we can't have people in the locker room giving the game plan away. tweeted no comment and also this photo inside a bar. but at least lens was told he was being let go. one restaurant owner in winter park, florida, texted his staff to tell them they would no longer have jobs. i unfortunately need to inform you that i have been forced to close effective immediately. being fired just isn't easy. >> i can't do what you think i'm going to do, which is flip out. >> reporter: no matter who's listening. >> you're fired. out. >> reporter: john berman, cnn, new york. happening now, a california kidnap victim returns home after her dramatic rescue from the idaho wilderness. what's next for hannah anderson. i'll talk about that and more with dr. drew pinsky. also, hillary clinton speaking live this hour amid

growing buzz about another possible white house run. is all the attention helping or hurting her prospects? plus this -- families flee in the middle of the night as a giant sinkhole opens up just minutes from disney world. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the word. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." we're learning lots of eerie similarities right now between james dimaggio's crime and an incident involving his own father decades ago, where we're following the aftermath of the dramatic rescue of 16-year-old hannah anderson. what happened, we just heard from the dad. cnn's brian todd is here. he's got some amazing details about a very eerie similarity. >> eerie is the word, wolf.

an eerie similarity between what authorities say james dimaggio did in this case and some behavior his own father allegedly exhibited more than 20 years ago toward a teenage girl. he was said to have been infatuated with 16-year-old kidnap victim hannah anderson. now chilling new detail on what could have been a disturbing influence on that behavior by james dimaggio. his own father. cnn affiliate kfmb in san diego interviewed a woman who says dimaggio's father james everett dimaggio pursued her when she was a teenager. the woman who didn't want to be identified said this happened in the late 1980s. the senior dimaggio, she says, had dated her mother but broke up with the mother and told the then teenager he loved her. >> stuck around for me and wanted to take me away from my mom and give me a good life, a better life. he could take care of me. >> reporter: she says after she refused, james dimaggio's father broke into her house, carrying a shotgun and handcuffs and was

about to kill her, her boyfriend, and her brother. >> asked him to please not kill us. he said don't worry, it will be over quick. and i just remember pleading with him. >> reporter: she says she asked to use the bathroom, then escaped. dimaggio's father, she says, then ran off. public records show that james dimaggio's father was a defendant in a criminal case filed in 1989, but no specifics were immediately available. i asked forensic psychiatrist lisa van susteren about the alleged pattern of behavior towards teenage girls by father and son. >> people who have poor impulse control, people who have very bad judgment, very little frustration tolerance, they may seek drugs or alcohol to calm some of their tendencies down. those are inheritable traits. >> reporter: according to this woman's account, the elder dimaggio also used his son to get to her. the younger james dimaggio, she says, went to school with her and one day approached her with a message from his dad. >> he came up to me, i think it was third period, or it was

between classes, saying his father was out and he'd be waiting for me after school. >> reporter: i asked former fbi profiler greg mccreery if that could have been a trigger for the son's alleged behavior in later years. >> certainly could have been something that he found exciting or enticing or wanted to emulate perhaps later in life. and then we see him engage in a similar behavior with this attraction to a young girl and this thing just sort of played itself out again all over. >> so far cnn has not been able to reach the woman who kfmb interviewed. another bizarre tie-in, this past saturday, august 10th when james dimaggio was killed by fbi agents is the 18th anniversary of the very day his father apparently committed suicide. that may or may not be coincidence, wolf. >> there's another strange coincidence anniversary date tied into all of this. >> according to reports, august 3rd, the same day that james dimaggio's mobile home was burned, allegedly with hannah

anderson's mother and younger brother inside it, that was the same day that his own mother died of cancer years earlier. again, he's not around anymore, he can't answer some crucial questions as to some of these potential tie-ins. >> neither the father or the son is around anymore. thanks very much. let's get to the victim in this story. hannah anderson. her father describes it as a tremendous horrific ordeal that she had to go through. the san diego girl, 16 years old, was rescued in the idaho wilderness over the weekend after law enforcement officials shot and killed her abductor. the family friend, so called, james dimaggio. police say killed hannah's mother and brother before kill ki -- kidnapping her. she's now back in san diego. she's reunited with her dad, who spoke out just minutes ago. >> as a country, there are many missing children, and though some of them -- sorry. some of you might find the amber alert annoying, please pay attention, keep your eyes open.

let's bring those children home. no one should have to go through this. now, it's time for us to grieve and move on to the healing process. i respectively ask you to give me, all of our family, and our friends the respect and time to allow this to happen. as for my daughter, the healing process will be slow. she has been through a tremendous horrific ordeal. i am very proud of her and i love her very much. she is surrounded by the love of her family, friends, and community. again, please, as a family, give us our time to heal and grieve. >> let's get some more now with dr. drew pinsky, the host of hln's "dr. drew on call." tell us what kind of state of mind you think hannah most likely is going through right now. >> you know, wolf, i want to caution people. we really don't know -- when we

talk about this having been a horrific ordeal, it's easy for us to conclude that she was kidnapped, but we really don't know what she was experiencing. the l.a. times in their article this morning reported that when the horseback riders identified her found her, they heard her say boy, we're all going to be in big trouble now, as opposed to help me, i've been abducted, suggesting that on some level, she was involved with this kidnapping victim. really when you get right down to it, the most difficult thing for her in the short term, right now, is the fact that her mother and brother are dead and she did not know that. that's going to be a heavy trauma for her. how she understands and experiences what happens to her, we're going to learn as the details emerge. >> for our younger view who are may not be familiar with the stockholm syndrome, dr. drew, explain. >> well, it's when people -- if you remember patty hearst, she begins to identify with her abductors. on some level, you begin to

accept their point of view. it's really a survival mechanism that humans have adopted in order to survive these circumstances that are so horrific. but we don't know that it's that. she may have in some level been manipulated into this by this guy where she believes she was somehow a partner with him. we don't know. so the actual ordeal she went through, we will only learn as time goes on. >> the sheriff, bill gore of san diego county just a few moments ago, he told us that she was a victim, she was under extreme duress. a 16-year-old girl with this 40-year-old man who supposedly had been a very, very close family friend. he also said she did not know her mother and younger brother ethan had been killed in that home in san diego that burned to the ground. >> that is the feature that's going to be the most difficult for her. her mother and her brother are dead and she did not know that. i think that's what she is struggling with right now. how she understands the experience she went through, it's hard to predict. it's easy to say oh, she was

abducted and she was horrified and just trying to survive. if that were the case, that's bad enough. but i have a feeling it's more complicated than something as straight forward as that. >> what do she and her dad and loved ones need to do to try to deal with this ordeal? >> as the father said, it's going to take time. there's no sort of magic potion. imagine anyone losing a loved one. that's the first order of business. the second order of business is trying to come to terms with having been so helpless for an extended period of time. helplessness is highly traumatic, particularly for young people, and again, she's going to have to learn to trust and use other people to manage these overwhelming emotions and build emotional machinery to regulate, and frankly move forward as she will one day. >> i just imagine a 16-year-old girl, she was very close physically to james dimaggio, the 40-year-old man who abducted her, killed her mother, and her younger brother.

when he was shot in the wilderness out in idaho. the san diego police sheriff saying that she was physically near him when he was shot. that must be an ordeal as well for her. >> absolutely. it's another level, another layer on this experience. and again, we don't know what her perception was of her experience with this man. that may have -- in the moment it happened, have been not just horrifying because she's in proximity of a violent death, but she may have really wanted to protect him in some way. we just don't know. she may have been relieved allegation. she may have also understood this was her abductor, but just being 16 near a violent death, i mean, that is enough to give somebody trouble for an extended period of time. you add to that the death of her mother, the death of her brother, the fact that she was abducted, she had been manipulated, she had been helpless. these are things that take some time. indeed, these kids do get through these things, but they need a lot of support, a lot of

the people around them connecting with her and supporting her and then a lot of treatment. >> dr. drew pinsky is the host of hln's "dr. drew on call." thanks very much for calling in. >> thanks, wolf, appreciate it. coming up, verdict in a closely watched mob trial. also, disturbing jabs at president obama and others. we have details of some mean-spirited political stunts. [ female announcer ] when you asked us to remove high fructose corn syrup from yoplait original and light, we were like, "sure. no problem!"

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>> we should mention right now hillary clinton is speaking to the american bar association out in california and we should point out that in that speech, she said she's going to be delivering a series of speeches over the next several months. during this speech today, she'll be talking about voting rights but that she is going to be talking about transparency and national security policies in an upcoming speech. so this is something that the former secretary of state, the former senator from new york and presidential candidate has just said right now is another indication i think that she is seriously weighing another run for the presidency, and the only thing that is more predictable than all that fried food that people are eating at the iowa state fair right now are the politicians making early visits. hillary clinton may be in california, but plenty of others are in iowa to start gearing up for the next presidential election. but three years out, people are asking really? yes, really. they're already cropping up in iowa.

not the corn. the contenders. >> we can defund obama care. >> reporter: at least potential contenders like texas republican senator ted cruz. one of the headliners over the weekend at the family leadership sum it in iowa. a key stop on these presidential proving grounds. >> we need to abolish the irs. >> reporter: cruz even took a swipe at a possible rival. >> vice president joe biden -- [ laughter ] yeah, the nice thing is you don't even need a punch line. >> reporter: speaking of the vice president, an aide confirmed he'll be the speaker at a state fry hosted by senator tom hearken next month. a stage he shared with then senators barack obama and hillary clinton six years ago. >> thank you very much. >> reporter: while an aide says biden is only make up for

missing last year's gathering, it's a sign he's keeping the door open for 2016, with pundits endlessly reading into hillary clinton's paid appearances. her upcoming appearance with terry, not to mention her lunch with the president. >> keep in mind, she's been there before. she doesn't have to measure them. >> reporter: but former advisers to clinton insist the chatter is way too early. >> oh, i think that hillary clinton would be just fine if nobody talked about her for six months. i don't think she'd feel badly about that at all. >> reporter: tell that to rick santorum, who made a surprisingly strong 2012 bid all about iowa. that's where he was back again over the weekend, urging his party to reach out to blue collar workers. >> they don't want to vote for president obama, but at least he went out and talked to them. at least he went out and spoke about them. we didn't do that. we marginalized them.

>> reporter: but he wasn't alone in handing out advice to the gop. >> somebody is going to have to emerge who is really smart and really tough. because obama should have been beaten. hillary's going to be tougher to beat. >> reporter: there are more tea leaves to read. the dnc announced they're hiring a new communications director who worked for hillary clinton's '08 campaign. the biggest tea leaf of them all might be the one that is landing in california right now. hillary clinton giving the speech where she's essentially announcing she'll be giving other speeches in the coming months on some pretty big issues. if she's going to be talking about national security and the tradeoff between protection and liberty, that's very interesting. that's very much in the news right now. it's going to drum up a lot of speculation that she's really taking a hard look at 2016. >> we'll have much more on her speech coming up this hour, including excerpts. thanks very much, jim acosta.

take a look at something that happened at the missouri state fair. over the weekend, one of the rodeo clown routines featured a man with an obama mask and a broom stick, just one of the political stunts causing lots of outrage. athena jones reports. >> reporter: outrage today over this. a missouri rodeo clown mocking the president this past weekend. notice the broom in his backside. and joking that he could be stopped by a bull. >> obama's going to have to stay there. watch out for those bulls. president obama. hey, i know a clown. he's just running around and acting like one, doesn't know he is one. >> reporter: the rodeo association later apologized and the state's republican lieutenant governor called the act disrespectful on twitter saying we are better than this. the state fair has banned the clown. it's just the latest jab at the president. others have carried clearly

racial undertones. he was greeted in orlando bay sign that said "kenyan, go home." the arizona republic reports another shouted he's a 47% negro. this this continuing line of attack some believe is racially motivated. donald trump still questioning obama's citizenship in an abc interview, even though that issue has long been resolved, and the president has even provided a copy of his birth certificate. >> you don't still question he was born in the united states, do you? >> i have no idea. >> reporter: a texas republican congressman fielded a call from a birther to impeach the president at a town hall this weekend. >> this issue hits to the belly of the beast. >> reporter: the congressman responded he hears this a lot, but -- while not everyday occurrences, politicians have long been targets of anger and ridicule. examples abound.

there's the slap hillary internet game. the slap sarah palin one. there were countless negative portrayals of president george w. bush. so what's new? >> what is new, i think, is how suffocating it is, how constant every day, it seems, there's another bit of evidence of meanness, of vulgarity, and a personal attack. >> reporter: and of course, this anger isn't good for getting anything done on capitol hill. one side note here, when it comes to obama bashing. senate majority leader harry reid told nevada public radio he hopes that republican opposition to the president on capitol hill is based "on substance, not the fact that he is african-american." while republican senator tim scott, who is the only black u.s. senator, took issue with that. he called reid's comments offensive and said democrats are trying to use race as a smoke screen. he wants reid to apologize. >> we'll see where we go from

here. we have more politics coming up this hour. hillary clinton is giving a speech. she's getting an award. is she getting too much attention? what's going on? stand by. and later, a super fast technology could cut the travel time between new york and los angeles. get this, new york to los angeles in 45 minutes. what's your function? ♪ ♪ hooking up the country helping business run ♪ ♪ trains! they haul everything, safely and on time. ♪ tracks! they connect the factories built along the lines. and that means jobs, lots of people, making lots and lots of things. let's get your business rolling now, everybody sing. ♪ norfolk southern what's your function? ♪ ♪ helping this big country move ahead as one ♪ ♪ norfolk southern how's that function? ♪

verdicts are in for one of the most closely watched mob trials in years. james "whitey" bulger, who spent 16 years on the run, has been convicted of racketeering and involvement in 11 murders. deborah feyerick was in the courtroom in boston when the verdicts were read.

what was it like? >> reporter: well, you know, after five days of waiting, wolf, everybody was holding their breath. james "whitey" bulger stood at attention as the verdict was read. guilty on 31 of the 32 counts, meaning that the convicted killer, crime boss, thug, thief, gangster will spend the rest of his life in prison, probably in solitary confinement. u.s. attorney here made sure that this came to trial. >> i hope that the victims, the families, and many others who suffered tremendously and in some cases were actually destroyed by james bulger's criminal actions, will take some solace in the fact that he will spend the rest of his life in prison, far away from the beaches of santa monica and far from the streets of south boston. i would like to thank the jurors.

>> i guess this is over with now, right? where do we go from here? i guess we just lost connection. that's it. we saw the headline. it's over with, basically. james "whitey bulger" will spend the rest of his life in prison. up next, a beer and a chat with anthony weiner. he sits down to take questions with buzz feed. we'll listen in live, see what happens. could be interesting. and a resort only minutes away from disney world slowly disappearing before our eyes. what happened? we're going there. male announc] you wait all year for summer. ♪ this summer was definitely worth the wait. ♪ summer's best event from cadillac. let summer try and pass you by.

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happening now, one of the country's most unpredictable candidates gets set to grab a beer and talk politics. we'll see what happens. also, part of the fancy resort falls into a sinkhole. and a new super fast way to travel. how does new york to l.a. in 45 minutes sound to you? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." that is beer politics, one of the most controversial contests in the country. anthony weiner is starting to take some questions at a buzz feed brews event in new york. he's with buzz feed's editor-in-chief ben smith. they're actually discussing politics over beers at an event designed to stoke social media conversation. once it gets started, we'll listen in to hear what's going on. get some sense of this race,

what's going on. also we're standing by. hillary clinton is giving a major speech out in california. there she is right there. she just wrapped up what she was saying. we're going to go back and do a little analysis. anna navarro and donna brazil both standing by. is hillary clinton really getting ready to run for the democratic nomination? is this an early sign of what may be in store for the democrats and potentially the republicans down the road? let's listen in a little bit to hear what she just said. >> as you know, the supreme court recently struck at the heart of the voting rights act and stripped out the pre-clearance formula that made it so effective. some take the historic success of the voting rights act as a sign that discrimination is a thing of the past and we no longer need its protections. but as justice ginsburg said, that is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because

you are not getting wet. you'll soon be soaked. and sure enough, in the week since the ruling, we've seen an unseemly rush by previously covered jurisdictions to enact or enforce laws that will make it harder for millions of our fellow americans to vote. >> the former secretary of state speaking at the american bar association out in california. anna navarro is joining us. donna brazil is joining us. anna navarro a republican strategist. donna a democratic strategist and cnn analyst. she also said, donna, she's going to be doing in the next few weeks several more major speeches addressing national security and domestic policy issues. what does that say to you about her ambition potentially to become the first woman president of the united states? >> well, i don't know if we can read anything in the tea leaves. it may be too early to handicap. although i continue to believe

that if she decides to run, she will once again be a frontrunner in 2016. but i do believe that secretary clinton is filling a tremendous void with president obama and vice president biden tied up with day-to-day business of running the government, etc. so i'm delighted that she's out there. i've missed her voice on national politics, international issues. and now we get an opportunity to hear hillary clinton talk about important national concerns. >> anna, she's rested up after leaving the state department. she had traveled hundreds of thousands of miles as the secretary of state. she's taken a break. but now she's coming back. she's getting into the ring, shall we say, once again, going out and doing these speeches and doing all sorts of other things as well. same question to you. what does that say to you about her political ambition?

>> it tells me that she's leaving her options open. i think she probably hasn't made up her own mind as to what she's going to do and she's got the luxury of time. she's a well-known name brand. and let's face it, practically every democrat that's worth -- whose endorsement is worth something and her support is worth something, it's down on one knee asking for her hand in political marriage. she's yet to decide whether she accepts or not the proposal. but in the meantime, she's got to keep herself relevant. she's got to keep herself in the press. and let's also face it, wolf, she's making $200,000 a pop per paid speech. and the clintons never saw a dollar they didn't like. when she's in the press, she's more in demand. it makes sense for her politically. it makes sense for her financially. hillary clinton is not going to go away. she's going to be in the political scene for a long, long time. >> we don't know if she's getting paid at all for the speech today at the american bar association in california. although she does do paid speeches as she herself

acknowledges and her husband does that as well. ladies, stand by. we have more to discuss. speaking of what's going on, anthony weiner in a special live interview with buzzfeed. we're going to listen in a little bit to hear what he has to say. plus, compensation for victims of the asiana airline crash. we have details of how much the airline is offering each passenger. here we honor the proud thaccomplishmentsss. of our students and alumni. people like, maria salazar, an executive director at american red cross.

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back now to another major story. we're covering the attorney general of the united states eric holder saying "too many americans are going to too many prisons for far too long." he's unveiled an ambitious new

program to do something about it. >> we need to keep taking steps to make sure people feel safe and secure in their homes and communities. and part of that means doing something about the lives being harmed, not helped, by a criminal justice system that doesn't serve the american people as well as it should. >> for starters, federal prosecutors will no longer charge low-level non-violent drug offenders with offenses that carry very heavy mandatory minimum sentences. and joining us now, newt gingrich, the former speaker. also william otis, adjunct professor of law at georgetown university. gentlemen, thanks very much for coming in. newt, it's not every day that you and senator rand paul are praising eric holder for a major decision. why? >> well, i have been working for years with pat nolan at the prison ministries and with right

on crime. rick perry, the governor in texas, is the leader in 2007. texas has saved two billion dollars. they've closed three prisons. and they have the lowest prime rate they've had in over 20 years. and i think it's because of an intelligent distinction between dangerous violent criminals and people who are nonviolent. >> so you're praising what the attorney general has done -- >> it's the right direction. >> bill, what do you say? >> i think there's good news and bad news in what the attorney general has done. part of the bad news is that the attorney general conflates nonviolent crime with nonharmful crime. a great deal of drug dealing and drug consumption, while nonviolent, is very harmful. when a heroin addict is putting the drug in his arm, it's not violent, but it's harmful and can be lethal. same thing with other dangerous drugs like pcp and methamphetamine. so i think that part of the attorney general's view of things is shortsighted.

>> let's let newt respond to that. >> let's draw a distinction. there are a number of crime where is you want rehabilitation. a number of crime where is you want somebody who's done something stupid. but do you want to put them into a building surrounded by hardened criminals, where up to 80% of them will go back to prison once they're let out, because we've become really good as a country at educating people how to be prison. >> because of the time they spend in prison. what do you say to that? >> we actually have a lot of information about what works in the criminal justice system and what does not. what works is prison. what does not is what we were doing in the '60s and '70s, when sentencing was lenient and we believed in rehabilitation. that gave rise to the determinant sentencing movement, which took place during the reagan administration and the advent of mandatory minimums and binding sentencing guidelines. so in the 20 years since we've had that, crime has gone down 50%. >> when texas began moving

towards being right on crime, they, in fact, have reduced the crime rate. they've also reduced the number of prisoners. they've reduced the number of pris prisons. i think the governor of georgia will tell you that this kind of approach makes sense. i'm not for being soft with people. i think there are a number of steps you can take from economic fines to using electronic devices to where you have to be at home all weekend, at home every night. i do think what we have done over the last two generations -- and i was part of this. i voted for very tough penalties. and i know look at situations where you're taking somebody out of the economy, breaking up their family, and putting them in a situation where they're surrounded by hardened criminals and i think it's pretty hard to argue that that has been a positive long-term result. >> and bill, the statistic that the attorney general and many others cite is very alarming. the united states has 5% of the entire world's population, but

25% of the entire world's prisoners. >> it seems to me where the attorney general is making a mistake is focusing on the three quarters of 1%, which he correctly said today that are in prison, but not saying so much about the more than 99% of people who are not in prison. >> but why does the united states have 25% of all of the world's prisoners locked up? >> because we have become more serious about fighting crime, and as i say, we have been successful. the statistics aren't lying. it's the department of justice's own statistics that show the crime has fallen by 50% over the year on mandatory minimums. >> i think first of all, if it's violent crime, it makes a great deal of sense to keep people away from society. if it is not a violent crime, i think you are much better off to move towards rehabilitation, and i think the evidence, for example, you simply get people to learn how to read. you have a dramatic reduction in the likelihood that they're

committing a second crime. i think for people who are not yet hardened criminals, one of our major goals should be how can we intervene so that you, in fact, get back to a life of having a family, earning a living and being in the community. >> we've got to leave it there, but it's a good discussion. i'm sure the debate will continue. thanks to both of you for coming in. >> thank you. an interview going on right now, there you see anthony weiner. it's called buzzfeed brews. ben smith is interviewing the new york city mayoral candidate, talking about his escapades, shall we say. listen in. >> in many people's view of the law, i've done a lot worse. he said you shouldn't be in the race. scott stringer said the other day that spitzer should have been prosecuted for what he did and i wonder if you have a view on that. on whether eliot spitzer should have been prosecuted. >> a view on the controller's race? >> onjust on whether eliot spitzer -- >> no, i'm not spengd a lding af

time thinking about the controller race. >> we're spending a lot of time thinking about you. >> i don't have any view on the controller race one way or the another. >> someone else who is hard on you is your old roommate jon stewart. and i wonder kind of what the state of your relationship is with him these days. >> he's a comedian. >> come on, he's your friend. >> no. >> i'm going to start asking you -- >> you can do this -- >> i think this is something -- >> you can do this or show videos of cats or whatever it is you do at buzzfeed. >> we do it all. >> but i mean jon -- this notion that somehow i was a victim of late night comics or victim of someone else -- look, i did these things. they were embarrassing. the jokes clearly write themselves. i did it during a slow news period. people who make fun of this didn't do anything wrong.

reporters who reported it didn't do anything wrong. you can quibble about the level to which it gets discuss eed is news decision after a why. i'll leave it to someone else to decide whether it's appropriate or not. a comedian would get thrown out of the comedian's union if he didn't do these jokes. >> are you still friends? >> i haven't spoken to him in a while. probably six months. >> is there any media outlet you feel has behaved well? >> well, i mean, look, there's been a chronic disconnect between what's going on out on the campaign trail and what gets reported. you see it from time to time. rudy kramer is out there covering the events and you can hear the gnashing of teeth from the tabloid reporters. and trying to do the mental gymnastics necessary to make it

a bad news day. like i had a remarkable reception. you read the ap story about the reception i got at the dominican day parade, and they found me making -- they took 2,000 pictures, got one of me making a face and that became the story. i kind of get it. the fact of the matter is that for all intents and purposes, substance in politics doesn't get covered in a campaign like this. i'll give you an example. on thursday, i've written two books of ideas, 125 ideas in all. on thursday, we did something where we do a big policy speech. i did one on law enforcement, stop and frisk. a long presentation at the fortune society, which is an organization that takes people that left prison, figure out a way to mainstream them. among my proposals were substantial ones about what you do in the post-stop and frisk era. i proposed lapel cameras for police officers. today, as it turned out in the court decision one of the things

that the judge wore. >> so there it is, he's being interviewed by ben smith of buzzfeed. you see the beer as well. we'll continue to monitor what's going on. anthony weiner, the new york city mayoral candidate. if you want to watch the rest, you can also head to our new youtube channel, youtube.com/cnnbuzzfeed. coming up, a scary night for some florida vacationers. this is what's left of a three-story resort building after a sinkhole opened up. we're going there live. stay with us. right now, 7 years of music is being streamed.

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that's the sound of a sinkhole swallowing up a three-story resort building near disney world in florida in the middle of the night. cnn's martin savage is on the scene for us in claremont, florida. martin, what's the latest on this massive sinkhole? >> yeah, well, this is really only about seven minutes away from disney world, so you can understand why this is of great concern. the good news tonight is that the sinkhole appears to have stabilized. it's about 100 feet across, 15 feet deep, and the best news of all, nobody was injured. in fact, it's even amazing that nobody was killed when you look at the dramatic footage, especially at the damage that was done to that one particular unit, that is building 104. it was around 11:00 last night, so many people were in their units. they were going to bed or some were even sound asleep when it began to slide and move, as a result of that sinkhole opening up. they were able, in about 10 to 15 minutes, to get out of that

building, wolf. >> how many people were affected, martin? >> reporter: yeah, they had -- it's being reported, now, at least by the owners here, that there were about 105 people in that particular building. so they're actually crediting a quick-thinking security guard who went around, alerting people to the danger. but here is some of what the witnesses saw and heard. >> there were windows breaking everywhere. one of the security guards ran up and was evacuating people, barging into their rooms. one woman was sitting in the tub and the tub just levitated. >> reporter: this is a remarkable image. that woman could actually only grab a pair of shorts and dash out. many people did just that, leaping out of windows, because doorways became blocked. but as we say, everyone was able to get out. the problem now is, they won't be allowed back in. and many of them left behind everything they had, from their clothes to their medical

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about 30 minutes. it could be possible with a new transport system, just unveiled a little while ago. it's called the hyperloop. cnn's renee marsh is here and she's got details of the hyperloop. what's going on? >> and you have to be really hyper when you say it. >> i'm hyper already. >> so imagine, wolf, you're traveling at speeds in excess of 700 miles per hour, in a steel tube, over the highway. would you do it? taking too long to answer there. >> no. >> you wouldn't do it? okay. so if billionaire entrepreneur elon musk has his way, you will be able to do this in another 7 to 10 years. now, the superfast transportation system musk has dreamed up is called the hyperloop. and we just got images of what it would look like. each car fits 28 passengers. the tube would be mounted on shock-absorbent posts designed the to withstand earthquakes and passenger cars would be launched through the tube with electric motors. now, to reduce the resistance and the friction, the air would be pumped from the front to the

bottom of the capsule, which would essentially cause it to float on compressed air. just think of an air hockey table, and that's the kind of effect that you get there. so if you're a passenger on one of these things, what would you feel? well, we asked him. >> it would actually feel like being in an airplane. so there would be initial acceleration, and once you're traveling at speed, you really wouldn't notice the speed at all. so you would just feel extremely smooth, like you were riding on a cushion of air, really. >> all right. well, elon musk is the billionaire behind paypal, spacex and the electronic car company, tesla. so as far out as this may see, he has a track record, so people are willing to listen and say, well, maybe one day. >> it's amazing stuff. thanks very much, rene, for that. take a look at the this final note. asiana airlines now offering $10,000 to the passengers aboard

the jet that crash landed. 180 passengers were hurt and three people died. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in washington. "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. "outfront" next, dead witnesses, f-bombs, and a verdict today in the trial of mob boss whitey bulger. and we are getting some more details in tonight about what exactly happened during her ordeal. and then, los angeles to san francisco in 30 minutes. what is the hyperloop? this is pretty stupendous, people. let's go "outfront." and good evening, everyone. i'm erin burnett. outfront tonight, mob boss,