-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com right now, a narcissistic looney tune. that's how hillary clinton described monica lewinski to a close friend. the question, why is this coming out now and do voters still care? also right now, rethinking chris christie. a new jersey newspaper says it blew it by endorsing him last

year and now calls christie the most overrated politician in the country. we'll speak with the editor behind those comments. and right now, coming to america solo. the french president's decision to come alone has people talking, and white house staffers scrambling. hello, i'm wolf blitzer in washington. a revealing glimpse today inside the mind of hillary rodham clinton during one of the lowest points of the clinton presidency and her marriage. clinton has written before about the shocking affair between president clinton and then white house intern monica lewinski, but newly discovered papers now explain how clinton was able to forgive her husband and salvage their relationship. cnn's erin mcpike has been looking into all of this for us, and it's pretty fascinating. tell our viewers what you found. >> well, wolf, according to these papers that were written by clinton's family friend,

diane blair, hillary clinton had said that bill clinton's affair was a lapse, essentially, and as you know, he had said he had caused problems in their marriage before. but she said he tried to break it off, and then he tried to manage monica lewinski. but all of this is very interesting, given what republican senator rand paul has been saying in the past few weeks. hillary clinton forgave bill clinton years ago for his affair with monica lewinski, someone she called a narcissistic looney tune, according to old writings first unearthed by the washington free break con. though she called his behavior gross and inappropriate, mrs. clinton confided to friend and colleague, diane blair, she blamed her husband's transgressions on the personal toll, the deaths of his mother, her father. she said the affair was meaningless and consensual, not a power play by bill clinton. an interesting twist, now that republican senator rand paul has called the 42nd president a

sexual predator and is challenging democrats to avoid raising campaign money with him. >> if they want to take a position on women's rights, by all means do. but you can't do it and take it from a guy who is using his position of authority to take advantage of young women in the workplace. >> reporter: he tells cnn, it isn't her fault the way her husband behaved, but he also called them a fund raising team. team clinton hasn't responded, but supporters say bill clinton's past is ancient history. of course, paul has a history of needling the clintons, especially the former secretary of state, for her handling of the death of four americans in benghazi. >> had i been president at the time, and i found that you did not read the cables from benghazi, you did not read the cables from ambassador stevens, i would have relieved you of your post. i think it's inexcusable. >> reporter: a tragedy clinton addressed during a speech last month in new orleans. >> my biggest, you know, regret is what happened in benghazi. it was a terrible tragedy,

losing four americans , two diplomats, and now it's public so i can say two cia operatives. houston, paul hit harder.ht in >> we're talking about six months of ignoring repeated, one after another, requests for security. but then the coup de gras, when she was asked for reinforcements, she turned down reinforcements, and we should never, ever have a commander in chief who won't send reinforcemen reinforcements. >> but according to a new book about hillary clinton that releases tuesday called "hrc," discussed on abc's this week, he reportedly told the book's

authors, quote, like a lot of great leaders, her most impressive qualities were most visible during tough times in the weak of the benghazi attacks, for example. she was extraordinarily resolute, determined and controlled. and what i think is very interesting about that, wolf, you know how two very high-profile republicans in defense, both petraeus and former defense secretary robert gates, basically coming to hillary clinton's defense on security issues and benghazi, especially when republicans say they're going to make that such a big issue if she does run. >> all right. we're going to learn more about the book's authors and the book later tonight on piers morgan. the two authors of this new book on hillary. they're going to be our special guests. so anxious to see that, 9:00 p.m. eastern, a lot more coming up later this hour, as well. erin, thanks very much. gay rights are calling it a landmark announcement, the justice department expanding its recognition of same-sex marriages. that recognition will now include federal legal matters such as bankruptcies, prison visitation and survivor

benefits. in a speech at the human rights campaign gala over the weekend, the attorney general, eric holder, announced the action he's taking today. >> i will issue a new policy memorandum that will for the first time in history formally instruct all justice department employees to give lawful, same-sex marriages full and equal recognition to the greatest extent possible under the law. >> bringing in our senior white house correspondent, jim acosta. jim, how will this affect the 34 states where same-sex marriages are not legal? >> well, wolf, first we should point out that attorney general eric holder is going to issue a memo sometime this afternoon to make official essentially what he revealed over the weekend, that the federal government is going to recognize same-sex marriages in all 50 states, even in those states where same-sex marriages currently not legal. and as you mentioned a few moments ago, wolf, this is going to really pertain, as eric holder said, to areas where the

federal government has jurisdiction, bankruptcy court cases, other federal court proceedings, survivor benefits, issues and so on. and so this is really leading social conservative groups to attack the white house, the family research council came out with a statement over the weekend saying this was another example of the administration's, quote, lawlessness. but eric holder in that speech to the human rights campaign, wolf, said this is really about equal protection under the law. and he also framed this as a civil rights issue, saying that this really belongs in the same category as the civil rights struggle of the 1960s, wolf. >> so are some civil rights leaders recalling the civil rights movement back in the '60s? are they happy with this comparison, because there are some african-americans, for example, who disagree with that comparison. >> that's right. and this white house has heard about this, as you know. the president has been evolving on this issue for many years. but slowly but surely, obama administration has really been striking out on its own, on this

issue of same-sex marriage, and as a matter of fact, i mean, just look at the sochi olympics, the u.s. delegation that was sent out to the sochi olympics, that delegation really was to reflect the administration's stance on same-sex marriage, on gay and lesbian rights issues. and just this morning, wolf, you will know that over the weekend, a football player by the name of michael sam announced he is gay before the upcoming nfl draft, considered a very big move in the sports world. get this. the first lady and the vice president have tweeted their support to michael sam. let's put the tweet from floatis --@ floatis, you're an inspiration to all of us, mike sam football, we couldn't be prouder of your courage on and off the field, signed m.o., an indication the first lady tweeted this herself, and he twooeded back thanking her. and vice president joe biden has tweeted his support. so really this issue, wolf, and we have seen this develop the last several years, as become a

very big civil rights priority for this administration, wolf. >> floatis, of course, standing for first lady of the united states and thanks very much. other news we're following, new disturbing video emerging of kenneth bae, american missionary being held in north korea. the video was taken friday at a meeting he had with the swedish diplomat. and just this morning, a state-run news agency said a former u.s. ambassador had arrived in pyongyang. jim sciutto is our chief national security correspondent. what's going on? >> it's extremely rare to get this video from inside the labor camp where he is being held to a very rare view of him, and he's the longest-held american in north korea. and what we see is some sobering video of a tired and noticeably thinner bae in this conversation with a swedish diplomat recorded on friday in this labor camp. remember we reported friday he had been sent back there from the hospital where he had been treated. and we get a rare view of him there, certainly not himself. we also got a view earlier of

the kind of work bae is doing in this prison camp, working in a field. you can see on the left-hand side, one of the guards overlooking him. now, in this video, bae says he's doing his best to stay strong, but he's very worried about his health, and he says he's lost as many as ten pounds while he's in camp. here's what he had had to say. >> i'm trying to stay strong mentally and spiritually, and trying to stay strong emotionally as well. but my main concern right now is that my physical condition, during hard labor, several hours a day, the next several months can be difficult. so if they can do something right away, it would be the best way to do it. >> very soft-spoken bae there, he added a message to his family saying he has not lost hope, has not given up and also says he hopes north korea will allow a u.s. envoy to negotiate his release. >> where are efforts to get his release stand as far as u.s. officials are concerned?

>> stalled. over the weekend, the north koreans resingleded an invitation for the u.s. ambassador, robert king. he's an expert on -- actually, that's wrong. north korean human rights expert at the state department. they rescinded his invitation to come into the country. it's believed that's in connection with u.s.-south korean military exercises going on. state department said they're deeply disappointed. they also reiterated those exercises have nothing to do with the case of robert bae. as you noted, another former u.s. diplomat arrived in north korea today. that is donald greg, former u.s. ambassador to south korea. i'm told by the state department, this is not connected to the bae case. they're in there for another trip with diplomats, american diplomats, to build connections there. but certainly valuable, at least, to keep that conversation going while -- >> well-known diplomat, u.s. ambassador to south korea during the bush administration, the fact that he himself is there, that is significant. we don't know exactly what he's doing, though. >> no question. they say just in general to build bridges between the two countries. i wouldn't be surprised if he would bring up the bay case.

the state department says that's not the express reason for his visit. >> i'm sure he's there, at least with a as it i had blessing. >> the state department also has mentioned the possibility of the reverend jesse jackson going to north korea, which he has offered to help discuss specifically the case of kenneth bae. >> we'll see what happens on that front, as well. thanks very much. the former president, bill clinton, he's under fire as a liability to hillary clinton. if she decides to run in 2016? our political analyst, gloria borger, standing by. she'll weigh in live. plus, a little bit later, taking back an endorsement. a new jersey paper says it blew it by backing chris christie for re-election as governor of new jersey. i'll talk to the editorial board and find out what led to the do-over. that would be my daughter -- hi dad. she's a dietitian. and back when i wasn't eating right, she got me drinking boost. it's got a great taste, and it helps give me the nutrition i was missing. helping me stay more like me. [ female announcer ] boost complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals,

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next hour, a panel investigating the new jersey governor, chris christie meets. they'll go over responses to subpoenas sent out over the george washington bridge traffic scandal. so far, two of the people at the center of the controversy have actually ignored the subpoenas, fired campaign manager, bill stepien, bridget anne kelly. on tuesday, chris christie heads to chicago for an economic summit. tuesday night, headlining fund-raisers for the republican governors' association. as the "chicago sun times" reports, none of the four republicans for illinois will be there. instead choosing to distance themselves from chris christie. at least for now. surely a different tune for the new jersey governor. back in october, the newark-based "star ledger" endorsed christie in his bid for re-election, saying, he's the most remarkable political talent america has seen since bill clinton. today the newspaper calls him the most overrated politician in the country, and they say they,

quote, blew it by endorsing him last year. joining us now to explain this pretty dramatic change is tom moran, editor of the editorial page of "star ledger." i assume this is because of the bridge scandal, right? >> that's most of it. but i would say, if you look at the actual endorsement, we had a lot of problems with him then too. this was a close call to begin with and a divided vote on our board. so we had called him overrated way before. when we were talking about him as a politician, if you have ever seen him perform, he's the best i have seen since bill clinton. if you see him in a town hall setting. that was his political performance we were talking about. >> and so -- but you obviously had other concerns, but you decided that he was best for new jersey. but now you say the bridge scandal is one issue. what other factors forced you to effectively rescind that endorsement? >> well, the bridge one is by far the biggest piece of it. there you have a serious abuse of government authority and it was directly related to christie's inner circle. that issue of time for traffic

problems came from his deputy chief of staff. and no one believes it stops with her. it goes higher. the question is how much higher. so that's the big one. i think we have also seen since then other things come out that are disturbing, especially in his use of the sandy aid. the recovery effort here has been pretty seriously botched, and we have seen evidence recently where he has diverted money to towns that didn't really need the help in order to win endorsements for his re-election. the worst case we have so far is in belleville and essex county. $7 million for a senior housing project that have been years in the work, and belleville wasn't very damaged by sandy. when we still have thousands of families out of their home without enough money to put them back, that's pretty outrageous too. so that weighed in somewhat. >> so clearly, you don't necessarily accept his very firm denials. >> well, his denials are whether he knew this was going on at the time. we are told by david wildstein and his chief enforcer at the port authority, evidence exists, that that's not true.

but i'm not passing judgment on that until we get serious evidence. what we know is people in his office ordered this. and this is a life-threatening thing. it was a major inconvenience for thousands of people. so whether he personally ordered that and knew about it or not, i think counts against him pretty seriously. >> because he says, you know, he was outraged when he heard his deputy chief of staff had made that -- had sent that message, go ahead and get some traffic jams going on over there -- i'm paraphrasing, obviously. says he didn't know anything about it, was outraged and as soon as he found out that morning, he fired her. that's not good enough. >> no, i would be skeptical about that. know wolf, he did not call her up and say what the hell happened here. why did you chose the bridge. just fired her. he's looking the other way. i think he's making a great effort to keep some definability and distance. it's hard to believe this is a guy who is a micro manager, who gets appointed to tiny little boards, physical therapy boards and stuff he involves himself

in. this is a pretty major thing. and during the time it went on, mike drewniak, his spokesman had conversations. i'm skeptical. >> i never understood. -- we've got to wrap it up. i never understood why his deputy chief of staff who had worked with him, bridget anne kelly, never at least gave her the courtesy of a phone call or a meeting, saying what were you thinking, what were you oh -- is there any logical explanation, you possibly could have had? what was going through your mind? apparently he just decided to fire her without giving her an opportunity to explain her position, which never was clear to me why he was doing that. unless -- and there was some legal reason why his lawyers were saying don't even talk to her. she is in big trouble. if you talk to her, you could be seen as coaching her. you could be in legal trouble yourself. unless there was some legal rationale, which i obviously still don't understand. you see any rationale at all for him not even giving her the courtesy of a phone call?

>> no. unless he knew that she knew he knew. in other words, she -- if he called her into his office and she said, well, as you remember, we discussed this bridge closing, so what do you mean? that's one possibility. the other is just that he wants to keep as much distance as possible. as i say, i think the right attitude right now is skepticism and dig for more facts. but even with what we know for sure, this should be damaging to the governor. it's his office and his senior people who did this. >> tom more jb is an, thanks so much for coming in. >> sure thing. thanks for having me, wolf. coming up later, an american working with al qaeda could become the subject of a targeted killing of the united states. we'll have a live report coming up. but next, will bill clinton help or hurt if his wife runs for president again in 2016? the monica lewinski scandal surfacing again. we'll discuss with gloria bornger when we come back. yeah.. try new alka seltzer fruit chews. they work fast on heartburn and taste awesome.

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so could bill clinton's affair with a white house intern hurt hillary clinton if she runs for president in 2016? gloria borger is here to discuss. gloria, it's all coming to a head right now. these papers that have just been discovered from her deceased friend in arkansas, diane blair, hillary clinton referring to monica lewinski, saying had he husband tried to break off his relationship with her, the sort of thing titillating to a certain degree. but it's 16 years ago. in her memo would war she wrote back in 2003, hillary clinton

wrote this. i could hardly breathe. gulping for air, i started crying and yelling at him. what do you mean, what are you saying? why did you lie to me? i was dumbfounded, heartbroken, outraged that i had believed him at all. that was back in 2003, when she -- he acknowledged to her, confessed that he did have this affair with monica lewinski. the not libottom line, this has come up, because of his wife making comments. will the voters really care all these years later? >> no. as you point out, this is 16 years old. if you are inclined to want to dredge up all of this, because you don't like bill and hillary clinton, you'll do it. okay? and that's one of the reasons rand paul is doing it. we can talk about that. but in terms of learning anything particularly shocking from these blair papers, i don't think -- i don't think we really are. i mean, what we see is a wife who is defending her husband as

she did publicly. of publicly, she was talking about the right wing conspiracy, as you'll recall, because you covered it. privately, she is talking about the reasons that he may have done this, and saying, you know, he was not a predator. and so we've kind of known this has been her thinking. is it interesting? sure. as a footnote to history, absolutely. is it dispositive in one way or another about whether hillary clinton should be president of the united states? of course not. >> talking about rand paul. in fairness to rand paul, his wife gave an interview to "vogue" magazine in which she described bill clinton as a sexual predator. he was asked about it later on "meet the press." he doubled down and as we noted last week, tripled down over the weekend, not backing away from this at all, he's going full speed ahead. >> right. >> why is he doing this? >> i talked to people close to rand paul, and i think it's part of a campaign strategy.

he is right now thinking about runni running for the presidency, trying to appeal to the republican base. the republican base doesn't like bill or hillary clinton. and what he's trying to do is brand himself as somebody who will take them on. and what i was told is that bill and hillary are, quote, running as a team. and that it's fair to attack them. they understand that bill clinton will be one of her greatest advocates if she decides to run. so i think they're letting people in the republican party know that rand paul is no holds barred. we're going to go after the clintons and that's a plural. when we need to. and i think that he feels that within the republican party base, this is a way of distinguishing himself as a fighter against hillary clinton. >> i think it will help that base. i don't know if he gets the nomination how much it will help in a general election. >> talk about the impact with women and younger women in particular might not work so well. >> gloria, see you later in "the situation room."

later tonight on cnn, piers morgan will speak the authors of a new book on the former first lady. what's really driving hillary clinton right now? you can watch piers morgan's interview later tonight, 9:00 p.m. eastern only here on cnn. coming up, pressure from congress on the nfl demanding a name change for the washington redskins. that's ahead. and a little bit later -- but up next, the obama administration is a high-level discussion about staging an operation to hunt down and kill an american helping al qaeda. you can hear what the pentagon has to say, when we come back.

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u.s. drones have killed at least four americans who sided with al qaeda, but another america could soon become the target of an air strike or other u.s. military operation. our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr, is working her sources on this. so what do we know who this person is, where this person may be and what country right now, and in short, what do we know about all of this, barbara? >> well, the precise two questions, wolf, that no one is going to answer right now. who is this person, and where are they located? nobody is talking about that. but we have confirmed, and associated press reported it initially, that indeed for the last period of days or weeks, there have been high-level discussions in the obama administration about another strike against an american citizen located outside of the united states, someone who is said to be with al qaeda, the al-qaeda affiliates, and

involved in planning, plotting, being a threat to the united states. those are the ground rules under which the u.s. can go after an american citizen abroad. they have done it before. we're told the discussions are very high-level. the u.s. military weighing in, and it centers right now around how important this individual is, how important is the target, is it worth the risk. if you fly a drone into a country that would not be welcoming to the u.s. military. so this is the debate right now. we don't know how it's going to come out. but it's really quite interesting, because, of course, back in 2011, the u.s. with a drone killed anwar al awlaki in yemen, affiliated with al qaeda and it has been controversial ever since. wolf? >> and we know that anwar al awlaki's 16-year-old son was killed in a separate drone strike, but he wasn't targeted.

that was what they call collateral damage for some other strike. is that right? >> that's absolutely right. his son and the other americans, at least a couple of them, that had been killed by u.s. drones over time have been said to be -- and we don't know a lot of information, not a lot has been revealed, have been said to be people that u.s. was not necessarily directly targeting. and, of course, this is why u.s. drone strikes overseas are so controversial, and why they're so resented by so many countries. there is a very strong view outside the united states that these drones have indeed been killing civilians in places like pakistan and yemen. people in those countries understandably very resentful. wolf? >> all right, barbara, thanks very much. obviously very sensitive subject. coming up, we have more news, including iran. it has now agreed to allow more access to some of its nuclear program.

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president obama praising what he's calling a strong resurgence in u.s. relations with france. but it's the french president's relationship with women that's generating some headlines, as he travels to washington for an official state visit. our senior white house correspondent, brianna keilar reports on president hollande's baggage. >> reporter: flags unfurled, party tent in place. the white house ready for its first state dinner in nearly two years. but they didn't plan on this. scandal plagued french

president, francois hollande, comes to washington with a lot of baggage. not coming is this woman, valerie trierweiler. never married, the couple of seven years split after a french magazine said it caught hollande sneaking out of the palace on the back of a scooter for a secret republican have a view with julia gayet. she is not coming either. hollande says his private life is private, but made headlines around the world. lending unusual intrigue to a high profile white house visit. 300 dinner invitations engraved with the former first lady's name had to be scrapped, according to the "new york times" and with hollande coming solo, seating arrangements are delicate, at best. anita mcbride helped laura bush's chief of staff. >> typically, when you have a foreign guest coming that has a

spouse, you know, the president and first lady, our president and first lady would be seated next to the spouse. so that is something that they'll have to change. >> reporter: the white house says the romantic drama isn't putting a damper on the visit, and it's not just about the dinner, of course. france is a top u.s. ally, and topics like syria and iran are on the table. but at least for now, foreign affairs seem overshadowed by affairs of the heart. brianna keilar, cnn, washington. two members of congress are objecting to the name of the nfl's washington redskins. today sent a letter to the nfl commissioner, roger goodell, calling goodell to, quote, take a former position in support of a name change. they go on to say that the national football league can no longer ignore this, and perpetuate the use of this name as anything but what it is. a racial slur. brian todd is with me here. we're watching this. so what is the league's position, first of all, on the name of the team?

>> the league has kind of gone back and forth, wolf, saying they understand the criticism, understand the sensitive feelings. but that this is a team name that's been around for 80 years and that we have to at least respect that. but this letter from senator mar maria cantwell, she's a democrat, he's a republican, does ratchet up the pressure on the redskins to at least hear people out and do something about the name. interesting, you read part of the letter there. but another part is really kind of slamming the nfl, saying it's clear that you haven't heard the leading voices of this country. it says the nfl is on the wrong side of history. now, contacted by cnn, the nfl today wouldn't really go beyond what commissioner roger goodell said at the super bowl a little more than a week ago. and here's what he said then. >> this is the name of a football team, a football team that's had that name for 80 years, and has presented the name in a way that is has honored native americans. we recognize there are some that

don't agree with the name and we have listened and respected that. >> now, the washington redskins, not nearly as much on the fence as the nfl, wolf. the redskins today sent us an e-mail in response to this letter from congress, saying, quote, with all the important issues congress has to deal with, including afghanistan, health care, deficits, don't they have more important things to worry about. and also, a zing at congressman tom cole from oklahoma. the redskins saying, quote, given the fact that the name oklahoma means red people in the choctaw language, this request is a little ironic, so the redskins punching back hard. the owner said he's not changing the game. >> davis helping deal with this. a very well-known guy here in washington. so what leverage does congress really have? >> they do have some leverage. it seems on the outset, they can't really do much to actually change the name themselves. however, they can hold hearings, they can hold dance night and roger goodell in before the halls of the house and senate and make them look bad or

embarrass them a little bit. they could call attention to the nfl's tax-exempt status and agitate toward that. they probably can't change that status. but again, can hold hearings and make kind of -- kind of call attention to how rich the nfl is and how powerful they are. and, again, embarrass them. so they have a little bit of leverage. >> brian, thanks very much. brian todd working that story. iran has agreed to make more steps in its nuclear agreement with the west. i'll talk to cnn's newest analyst about the pressure the u.s. is facing from its allies in the middle east. . time to take care of business with century link's global broadband network and cloud infrastructure. we constantly evolve to meet your needs every day of the week.

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iran says it's agreed to take more steps by the spring to ease international tension over its nuclear program. the statement was issued along with the international atomic energy agency and set a may deadli deadline. joining us now, cnn's newest middle east analyst, michael

loren, at the atlantic council in washington. also former jordanian foreign minister at the carnegie endowment, author of a brand-new book, "the second arab awakening and the battle for pluralism." good to have both of you with me here on cnn today. i'll start with you, mr. foreign minister, since you were a foreign minister, he was only an ambassador. let's talk a little bit about u.s. efforts to get iran engaged and stop its nuclear program. there's concern right now, some america's best friends in the region, whether the israelis, saudis, emirates, very nervous. is the u.s. doing the right thing? >> i think it is, wolf. i think war in the middle east was in best interest. and in addition, it is not going to stop the iranian nuclear program. so if a good political agreement is to be done, i think that's the best course. >> is the u.s. doing the right thing? >> good to be with you, wolf. good to be with marwan too.

well, i think it's really has some serious concerns, not only israeli has concerns. saudi, gulf -- saudi arabia, gulf countries, are concerned that this interim agreement leaves iran with enough nuclear material for four bombs. it leaves its missile program intact. no inspections of the military sites where they could actually be building a bomb. it's leaving intact facilities that have no peaceful purposes, other than to make a bomb. and so people are very nervous about it. >> so you disagree with this strategy? >> i think we have serious -- i think it's israel and other middle eastern countries. the iranians and israelis agreed on something last week. they both said that president obama was not quite right when he said that the interim agreement involved some dismantling of iranians' nuclear possibilities. >> because in your book, you write this, the arab world will be devastated if the united

states should decide to conduct a military strike against iran. >> i think so. first of all, we don't know the terms of the agreement this is still an interim agreement. second of all, i don't think the war will be the answer precisely because on one hand it will not stop the program and create a whole pandora's box in the mideast. a political strategy, a strategy to pursue a political settlement is the rest. >> give peace a chance. that's the theme that they are suggesting. what's wrong with that? >> nothing wrong with it, but will it bring about peace. >> for it doesn't, it can turn the sanctions immediately back out. >> that's a question to be seen. the iranian oil industry is rebounding, going up quite strongly because the word has gone out that the sanctions are being eased rather than ratcheted up. the credible military threat is that the more credible it is,

the more chance you use it. they have to believe that if the seed along the road to nuclearization, the united states will stop. >> george has a huge problem from those who came into jordan from syria. the secretary jay johnson, he said the other day and i'm quoting him, syria has become a matter of homeland security for the united states. all of the potential terrorists were being trained right now. they could come to europe or the united states and commit acts of terrorism here. how big of a problem do you see this? >> it is a big problem on many levels. on the security level and the refugee situation is truly unsustainable and some of the other countries. the sectarian divide between the sunnis and the shiites threatens to affect the region. in many ways, the continuation.

>> what should the u.s. do? >> i'm not sure much can be done. there is no appetite. he cannot rule over all of syria. the opposition cannot win and nobody wants to interfere. i'm afraid we are going to keep this stalemate. >> they will continue with all the consequences. is there anything the u.s. can do to stop this? >> humanitarian aid and shoring up jordan that has been inundated and trying to ease as much as possible the suffering of the syrian people which we all feel. >> there is a debate under way as we speak coming to a head in washington. should the u.s. engage in what they call drone targeting killings and drone strikes. obviously they are going to go after a suspected terrorist. if the suspected terrorist is a u.s. citizen, should they target that person in u.s. or pakistan or somalia and go ahead and kill

that person suspected of plotting terrorism against the united states? what do you think? >> probably getting in all sorts of trouble within american society, but i say america has to do what it has to do. that's the responsibility of the people who sit in the capital building in the white house. if a bank robber is in a bank holding hostages, he's an american citizen and the police will do whatever they can to capture him. if they can't, they will prevent them from killing innocent hostages. >> i think it's sfwhag you ask the question from a foreigner. in general, i would say that in this country people are innocent until proven guilty. the drone policy resulted in a lot of innocent civilians being killed and not just suspected terrorists. as such i would be against it. >> good to have both of you here as our partners on cnn. thanks very much for joining us.

>> there is a new warning for flights heading to the u.s. they are telling americans not to fly out on caribbean airlines for the next two days. saying they received what they called unconfirmed threat information against the flights. caribbean airlines said they are adding extra layers of security for all of the u.s.-bound flights. coming up, a former gangster crediting a small abandoned puppy for inspiring him to turn his life around. we will tell but his remarkable journey when we come back. ♪

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ink from chase. so you can. . >> he dedicates his to saving animals. we have the story. >> this may look like an animal rescue, but for james, it is more like redemption. >> i was a bad person my whole life. now i feel good about waking up in the morning. >> it was so bad, and now it's so good. his turn around is the new reality show on the oprah winfrey network. >> i used to stick people up. >> he used to work with the

toughest mop bosses around new york until he found a small dog,y in dplekted and sick and he nursed it back to health and much later when the animal died, the gangster discovered something newborn in him. >> from that day on, i have been sober. not a drink. not a drug. it gave me a purpose in and gave me a reason to live. >> for almost a dozen years now, he has taken in countless lot of, abandon, and hurting animals trying to find new homes for them and always at very least keeping them safe. >> every animal can stay there their entire life. until they find the right home. >> the work is time consuming and can be expensive. he helps pay the bills with a dog grooming business called diamond collar. he doesn't make mobster money anymore. >> hello, everyone! >> in many ways he suggests he has never felt richer. >> some people never figure out

their purpose. i figured out from a little dog. >> tom forman, cnn. >> a nice story indeed. i will be back at 5:00 p.m. in "the situation room." newsroom continues right now with brooke baldwin. >> wolf blitzer, thank you very much. happy monday to you will of you. we begin this hour with a trial under way in jacksonville florida lot of his life and unarmed and shot all over a dispute rather loud music. the man accused of pulling the trigger can take the stand at any moment. i can tell you that the state of florida rested its case. this is day four. michael dun faces a first-degree murder charge and three counts of attempted first-degree murder. the gentlemen here on the stand is one of the workers at the gas station where this took place in november of 12