thank you so much. hope you learned a lot about the law and concert tickets and bruno mars as well. that's it for me. i'm don lemon. thanks for watching. ashleigh will be back soon. now here's wolf, but jim is filling in for him. >> right now the crisis in ukraine is getting more violent. today alone, 100 reportedly killed, more than 500 injured. the white house says it is outraged. also now airports on guard against the shoe bomb threat. we're learning about the man who may be behind it, known as al qaeda 's master bomb maker. and ted cruz opens up on the debt ceiling, harry reid and what it means to have members of his own party mad at him.

hello. i'm jim sciutto in for wolf blitzer. darkness cannot hide the scars and stains of a bloody day in kiev square. those are snipers taking aim at antigovernment protestors. those protestors say 100 died today in the clashes with government force easily making this the deadliest day since november when the prorussia government and prowest antigovernment demonstrators. the white house has condemned the fighting saying we're outraged by the images of ukrainian security forces firing automatic weapons. the last part is important. there are reports protestors have taken as many as 70

hostages from among the security forces. police say they've had dozens injured and many police killed in the fighting. joining me live from kiev, our own senior international correspondent, nick walsh. right in the middle of the violence. what can you tell us? >> behind me now over the crowds chanting, dark has fallen. they fort fied the barricades. we've seen the bodies taken out of the hotel where i'm standing. we heard some talk about fallen heroes and of course grief and anger. that comes after a long day of this. there were 67 hostages claimed to be taken. we haven't gotten that confirmed or evidence to back that up. it's a sign of police trying to raise the stakes and fears of es

-- of escalation. this is what a truce looks like. i should warn you about this video. dead, wounded gathered inside the lobby hotel under the sheet, head wounds, most hit by bullets. the number of dead is rising. together with disbelief and rage, outside this makeshift mall and hospital, live fire whizzed around. eight hours earlier, the president agreed on a truce and something changed. police suddenly withdrew and protestors moved forward. it's unclear why. this man said he fired a shotgun at police once protestors were fired upon by snipers. he didn't want his face shown. one man says this forces them to surge forward. leaders blam eers say shots of s

and grenades. police and protestors are face to face. barricade are enforced. many fear escalation is ahead. are you ready, one protestor asked a young man behind the shield? he may not be. ukraine may not be. what comes next? >> now jim, we've been hearing negative signals from security forces here. police saying they're taking up arms to protect themselves. military said they would use arms if necessary to keep ukraine from slipping into a civil war. the president blaming opposition. the opposition tells police to join them to turn over to their side. no real signs as negotiations are afoot. the big fear behind me, regardless of what's happening, the tension on the ground, front lines here say violence is spurred. the police are on the series of defenses trying to keep them back. they're massively superior in

equipment and numbers. the fear is they may push into the square again despite the bloodshed of this morning. >> i was speaking to a friend there who talked about his camera targeted by snipers. you're in the middle of it. i know there were bodies in the lobby of the hotel where you're staying. how do you stay safe as you're covering this? >> reporter: it's reasonably fine given most the sniper fire we have heard seems to be targeting them. we had one of our colleagues near the first aid being targeted here. this building is being shot as well. the real risk is to the protestors who move around here. they are angry. the safety for themselves isn't the first priority they're taking. the real fear for anybody covering this is what comes next? security forces have been pushed

back. they've been there about 12 hours. given what we've just been -- sorry. that's a flair going up behind me. sounded like a gunshot. many people are concerned about what's coming next. security forces have been on foot for a time. >> please stay safe. we got a taste of it there, what you're facing. thanks very much. back here in washington, sanctions on the ukraine are being, quote, fast tracked for the president now. i'm joined by our foreign affairs reporter who's been following this from the state department. what are we hearing about the sanctions? how powerful is this a tool for the u.s. government to influence the situation on the ground in the ukraine? >> we're talking about freezes of individuals that are believed to be involved in the recent crack down. if you remember yesterday, the

administration announced it had banned visas of 20 individuals involved in the recent violence. this goes on top of these small sanctions that the u.s. has been imposing on certain individuals here. not on the government itself. that's the question. is this really any type of solution? is this any influence that the u.s. can really offer here? as you noted that the administration came out with a very tough statement from the white house saying listen, urging the military to not get involved saying it's outraged by what's going on. what type of in-depth mediation is the u.s. willing to provide. now it's willing to leave it up to three eu foreign ministers on the ground to get diplomatic process going. they're concern about violence on the ground. they see government snipers pointed at the protestors. very concerned the government

may impose some state of emergency and then anything goes, jim. >> state of emergency, troops move in. that's a tactic targeting senior leads. they've used on countries like north korea before. that doesn't always work. coming up, i'll talk to bill richardson about that and the role vladimir putin is playing in this. and now we're learning about the terror threat and the master bomb maker that could be behind it. terrorists could be plotting shoe bombs. the homeland security is warning airlines. brian todd has been on this. we're not sure it's him. we know this guy, and he's tried this in the past and had success. >> he has.

terrorism experts say he could be the one connected to this potential threat. he is al qaeda's master bomb maker. he works with al qaeda many the peninsula. 31-year-old, college dropout that studied chemistry. that doesn't do him justice. i got off the phone with officials. here's what they said. he's a very dangerous man. they believe he's a live in yem en. he designed the christmas day underwear bomb that failed to go off in detroit. he designed the cartridge bombs hiden in cargo planes headed for the u.s. those were both foiled. in both case they evaded security detection at airports overseas. he has learned from the mistakes, experts say. intelligence officials told me, quote, he's made efforts to study our detection capabablec s

capabilities. he's a ruthless guy. he sent his own brother. >> in 2009 he sent his brother to try to kill the saudi arabian minister. he hid a bomb in his brother's underwear or might have been in a body cavity. that's not quite clear. the bomb went off. his brother was killed. the minister survived the attack. the bomb and brother got through security measures and got right next to the interior minister of saudi arabia. these guys are ruthless and know what they're doing. they could be behind the latest threat. >> it's one of the tough orders of business for intelligence. they know these guys are out. there they do the best with what they hear and issue warnings. thanks brian todd. we'll continue to watch here at cnn. new jersey governor chris christie faces constituents and takes their questions.

his first town hall meeting talking about super storm sandy. how will that affect the storm swirling around him? and we asked the texas governor about campaigning with you nugent. we'll have that controversy. they lived. ♪ they lived. ♪ they lived. ♪ (dad) we lived... thanks to our subaru. ♪ (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. ♪ ♪ so you can have a getaway from what you know. so you can be surprised by what you don't.

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>> back in the spotlight, granted a friendly audience in new jersey. how did he do? >> he did really well. he was charming, responsive. he was antifederal government which is always a good thing to be when you're saying the feds weren't helping out enough. he reminded people of why they liked him after super storm sandy. he reminded them he spends 40% of his time on recovery efforts. that's 15 months after the storm. i think he did what he had to do which is the answer to their questions, let them know he's on top of it and attacking the federal government, finding the common enemy is not a bad thing. >> that's incredible. >> exactly. >> nationally we're talking about 2016. his national approval ratings took a major hit since bridgegate. from 31% in october to 22% last

month. any sign he's pulling off the bottom? >> he's got a special investigative committee in the state of new jersey trying to force two of his former top aids to turn over documents which they are not doing. so he has that real cloud hanging over his head. that's going to have to play itself out. what's interesting on a national level though because he's been attacked by the media, it's actually helped him with conservatives who didn't really like chris christie very much. they're rallying to his defense within the republican party. while it's hurt him nationally, it hasn't hurt him within the republican party which is honestly what he cares about right now. he wants to be president. he's got to get a nomination. >> another 2016 contender, scott walker, wisconsin brewing scandal on e-mails. not quite rising to that level. >> we have thousands of pages of

e-mails which have been released. some are distasteful from former aids of his when he was county executive. former aids were clearly mixing politics on government time. that's a big no no. >> they were using private e-mail accounts to hide -- >> that's a no no. a handful have been convicted on this. walker himself has not been charged with any crimes. his office is clearly pointing that out. you know, so does this rise to the level of question of abuse of power in the christie scandal? no i don't think so at this point. what you look at is how did these people who are on the list, governors who might want to be president -- you look at how do they handle these situations? look at chris christie today doing his job. you look at scott walker continuing to do his job defending himself. you know, this is part of the process that you go through if you with really want to get that

ring in 2016. >> this is the idea of politicians mixing politics and state business. that would never -- >> shocked. totally shocked. you know what, the state of wisconsin which is the birth place of campaign finance reform, these are very tough issues in that particular state. i think it could have impact statewide. >> we'll be watching. thanks very much. just ahead, nugent called president barack obama a mongrel. now the posing sanctions, is that an effective strategy? i'll talk to the ambassador next. well, put on a breathe right strip and shut your mouth. cold medicines open your nose over time, but add a breathe right strip, and pow! it instantly opens your nose up to 38% more

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racist remarks about president barack obama . cnn caught up with him and asked him directly about the association with nugent. greg abbott is in a high profile crowd in this texas restaurant owned by the grandparents of johnny manziel. when we asked about campaigning with nugent, things got tense. >> why did you think it was a good idea to campaign with nugent? >> it's funny how the reactive davis campaign is to this.

it shows that he's driven a wedge and exposed the fraud that they have displayed on second amendment based issues. so ted nugent was a way to expose wendy davis for her flip flopping on gun related issues. >> this is texas. finding someone who is pro guns is not that hard. why does it have to be ted nugent? >> neither abbott or his campaign would answer questions. the rights aren't in question. greeters show the candidate next to his hunting trophy says it all. when we tried to follow up on the nugent question, a campaign aid stepped in. >> thank you so much. appreciate it. >> you could have talked to a lot of people about gun rights? that's not a press conference. one question is not a press conference. that's not a press conference. come on nothing. we told you specifically what we

wanted to talk about. >> we tried one more time to ask if greg abbott would appear with ted nugent? >> would you give us a chance to clarify? why would you associate yourself with someone who describes the sitting president as a mongrel, described female politicians in vile ways? will you use him again in the campaign? >> greg abbott didn't answer that time either and headed back out on the campaign trial. cnn, tyler, texas. >> we heard abbott take a shot at his democratic rival. he avoided questions you despite tough questions. sarah palin has jumped in to the fray. she wrote, if he is good enough for ted, he is good enough for me, end quote. >> you look at something like

this and you have to wonder if candidates like this say that sort of stuff or associate themselves with people like ted nugent because there's an audience for it. there's parts of the base that like to hear this type of i think this. >> only person happier than nugent about in controversy is wendy davis. abbott's opponent. i say that jim, because primary politics looks like this. i doubt ted nugent will be visible at time of general election. this serves greg abbott's base well. this fires up the troops. any discussion of second amendment rights plays well for his base in texas. i'm sure he's fundraising based on this link and association. i know wendy davis is drawing great attention from the safe issue. she gets to go to her base now, nationwide and say look what i'm up against, my god it's ted nugent campaigning with my opponent. each gets to do what they seek

to do in primary season. >> he's not alone like this candidate in texas. ted cruise spoke to dana bash yesterday. he said he doesn't share nugent's sentiment but, quote, there's a reason people listen to im. that is not disassociating himself. at least there's appeal to this line. >> these sort of sound bites -- it used to be the path of longevity and success in washington on state by state basis was pay dues, establish seniority. those days are over. you say something in the tv world or talk radio, you're a super star. everybody wants to associate with you to the extent to campaign. you can't pick your supporters.

he's campaigning with ted nugent. ted has been a factor politically for a long time. most candidates have kept him at arm's length. >> another issue, certainly hot button. why is abbott campaigning the second amendment? is there effort to repeal it in texas that we don't know about making it a hot button had you? >>my god, i would be shocked in at all places texas there were a repeal movement. when you talk about what motivates a primary voter, there's nothing better than guns, maybe abortion. he's probably talking abortion as well. those are the issues that strive people who are the hard core registered in the primary process to come out and vote. i suspect and we can revisit in six months it will be a completely different set of issues and focus come general election time. >> grabbing a lot of headlines. thanks very much on the second amendment about the president's comments. speaking to us by satellite.

>> thank you. ahead this hour u he accuses fellow republicans of trickery. senator cruz says he is not the problem, they are. dana bash goes one on one with cruz next. does the u.s. have what it takes to play peace maker? we'll take a closer look. [ car alarm chirps ] ♪ [ male announcer ] we don't just certify our pre-owned vehicles. we inspect, analyze, and recondition each one, until it's nothing short of a genuine certified pre-owned mercedes-benz for the next new owner. [ car alarm chirps ] hurry in to the mercedes-benz certified pre-owned sales event. visit today for exceptional offers. ♪

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in ukraine, it's been the

bloodiest day yet in weeks of protest. antigovernment demonstrators say 100 have been killed in clashes with government forces. police also say they've suffered dozens of injuries and several deaths. today's bloody struggle came after an hour's long truce crumbled overnight. now take a look at this video. those are snipers taking aim directly at protestors, firing into groups who gathered in the capital's independent square. a situation ukraine had been bubbling months. the bloody explosion has governments scrambling to respond. joining me is bill richardson, former u.s. ambassador to united nations. bill richardson, president barack obama condemned violence in the ukraine using words like outrage. he's now fast tracking sanctions against ukrainian leaders. i want to ask you in your

experience, how powerful a tool is that? can and should the u.s. be doing more? >> they're a powerful tool, jim, because if the u.s. and military union push sanctions on the leadership, they can't travel. they can't come to europe or the u.s. it's a stage set of sanctions. the next sanctions would be economic, commercial, energy that would really bite. it's a stage proses. i think what we're basically saying is all right, ukrainianu, clean up your own act. the opposition and leadership have a truce. is this truce going to last stopping the violence? maybe eventually jim, lead otino reduction in president's power and early election. best scenario for ukrainians to resolve the crisis. if they can't, european union, u.s. mediation and u.s. pressure

stepping in. this is a valuable, strong country resource wise. it's surprise of the former soviet union. a lot of nuclear weapons were there. a lot of ukrainian americans. we have interest in peaceful resolution of this true. this next question is going to sound basic. it's a conversation i've been having with colleagues. what are u.s. interests there? ukraine is close to allies of ours in europe. does u.s. have interest in the stable outcome there? >> we have an interest in regional stability in that region. ukraine is very strategically located. the ukrainian people seem to want to move towards the west, toward the european union, toward the u.s. as opposed to soviet union which in the past put pressure on them in terms of

natural gas exports. they want to move towards the west. that's in our interest. this is a rich country in terms of energy, natural resource, strategic location in the black sea. there are a lot of ukrainian americans in the united states. what we want to see is regional stability there. we don't want to take it over from the russians. this is i think president putin wanted to recapture the old soviet power by being very strong with the ukrainians saying you are not going to the european union. i'm going to loan you money. he loaned them $2 billion. it's not working because the ukrainian people, the opposition wants to move towards the west and the united states and europe. >> well you get at an important point there. russia is very involved. they want to keep the ukraine in there influence. it sounds like old soviet

politics. their fear, our fear. this is a worry. the question is, how far is he willing to go? >> that's right. >> do we see him encouraging using more violence, state of emergency, to end this? to win it back in effect for russia. >> i believe president putin is very pragmatic. my hope is after the successful olympics that russia has staged they will see it's not in their interest for this violence to erupt so openly and for russia to be backing and keeping a live the current ukrainian government. i think what putin will pragmatically move in this direction, some kind of mediation so there's a political transition that eventually lets the ukrainian people decide in early elections. i think that's what russia needs to do. i wouldn't be surprised. putin is pragmatic. he doesn't want to lose another

battle as i think he's losing in syria where russia has the military advantage with syria. internationally it's not helping russi russia's image. >> we have learned russia sent an enjoy to kiev offering to mediate. would the other side, the opposition, trust a russian mediator? >> they probably would because they know that russia is controlling the president of ukraine, yanukovych. i think they want a peaceful resolution. in the end, they want transition where the president reduces power and maybe there's early election. they may not trust, but they would welcome. the violence is out of control. >> thanks very much ambassador bill richardson. certainly involved in this before. great to have your point of view. >> thank you. >> one thing we have to remember the violence in ukraine is

playing out a few hundred miles from sochi and the winter olympics. two members of the ukrainian team, her father and coach have dropped out in protest to the crack down. here's what the olympic committee is saying. quote, we appeal for peace and mutual understanding to find positive way forward for ukraine. just hope that spirit extends back to ukraine. coming up next, senator ted cruz accuses fellow republicans of trickery. he says dana bash yo work for political bosses in washington. and the gop rip gets wider. one group is taking aim at john boehner and any candidate that supports his speaker ship. here's why, just ahead. ut her mortgage didn't start here. it began on her vacation in europe. someone stole her identity and opened some credit cards in her name. checking her experian credit report and score allowed

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he's a thorn in the side of main stream republicans. senator cruz says it's his fellow gop members misleading constituents. in an interview with dana bash, cruz accused leaders of trickery. he said the decision forced the 60% majority to raise the country's borrowing limit. >> what i said is that i would not vote to raise the debt ceiling without meaningful spending reforms to fix the underlying problems. i also said listen -- >> you're not opposed to philosophically raising the debt ceiling? >> no. there are some that said they would never raise -- >> you're not one of them. >> i'm not. i campaigned on we should not raise the debt ceiling without meaningful reforms to fix the problem. there were suggestions in that republican lunch.

what mcconnel was asking every senator to do was let harry reed do so with votes. if i said if i consented to that i think i would be misleading the voters that elected me. i don't know how i would answer to them if i came back to ex the tex a -- back to texas and your led harry reed do that -- >> this is not any national newspaper. their editorial says cruz played into democrat's hand forcing those to take the fall so cruz would have one more moment in the limelight. nice guy. you know people are looking at this saying this is you making it all about you. >> you know, no one should be surprised at the main stream media. that includes most texas newspapers. sides with continually growing

size of power -- >> an editorial page? >> who said it was an editorial page. the only outcome possible was to give president barack obama every single thing he wanted. >> a big picture, you can't call this liberal. it's the wall street journal. the idea there -- this is what this is all about. you forced republicans to take votes that could hurt them in their races and could put the republican party in a may you y -- in a minority? >> the way we lose is not standing for anything. you've been traveling around texas. talk to an actual grass roots voter who's not in washington. they are beside themselves that republican leadership is leading the fight to raise the debt

ceiling for president barack obama . harry reed sat back and let leadership lead the fight. how do we win locations? i have a real difference of opinion with washington establishments. some think republicans win elections by not standing for anything, keep your head down, don't rock the boat. every time we do that, we get clobbered in the polls. 2006, 2010, 2012. three elections we faced the washington establishment approach. republicans got killed. the only election that was a good election for republicans was 2010. we stood a line in the sand. it was a tea party tsunami. it retook congress. it was historic. >> you're seating with people around you that i think you have

respect for, fellow senators in your own party. for them to be so mad at you, so mad at you, what's that like? >> listen, what i try to keep an eye on is that i don't work for party bosses in washington. >> as a human being -- >> as a human being i can't control what they say or how they behave. i control what i do. every interaction i have with every senator is civil, courteous, respectful treating them with dignity they deserve. what's treated as painful is not insult. it's speaking the truths. i think many would far rather me call them a blankty blankty blank. they wanted to cast a vote pretending they were opposed to

it. >> how does ted cruz stack against other possible contenders for 2016? the latest poll, he's at 8% which puts him in seventh place. tension between tea party conservatives and house speaker john boehner is escalating. hear how one group is trying to get him out of his leadership position. that's coming up next. so you can get out of your element. so you can explore a new frontier and a different discipline. get two times the points on travel and dining at restaurants from chase sapphire preferred. so you can be inspired by great food once again. chase sapphire preferred. so you can. my dad has aor afib.brillation, he has the most common kind... ...it's not caused by a heart valve problem. dad, it says your afib puts you at 5 times greater risk of a stroke. that's why i take my warfarin every day.

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leadership in congress. they are vowing to withdraw for any candidate who backs john boehner for speaker of the house. they don't like the approval of several bipartisan measures including the budget deal. the disapproval goes both ways. after october the partial government shut down, boehner fired back at groups who pressured him to not give an inch to democrats on the budget. have a listen. >> when groups come out and criticize an agreement that they have never seen, you begin to wonder just how credible those actions are. frankly i think they are misleading their followers. they are pushing in places they don't want to be. i think they have lot of all credibility. >> they are talking about

republicans. joining us now from atlanta. patricia murphy. i know you talked to one of the tea party groups taking on boehner. the first question is how big of a threat are they to him? >> i would say listen. for him to get reelected to congress, they are no threat at all. for him to be reelected speaker, when you start to look at the fact that john boehner almost didn't make it through almost a first ballot process, he made it by about six votes. no opposition and no specific opposition. he did have conservative opposition in 2012. they could start to chip away and look at the republicans who announced their retirement, a number of those are john boehner loyalists and allies and they voted for him and pushed him for speaker. when these groups who have been against boehner all along and they start to base their support on a person's candidacy based on

whether they will support john boehner in the future as speaker, that is a different story. we heard republicans explain about nancy pelosi. that's why this is important. >> no question. could this backfire on tea party conservatives if it damages the party as a whole going into a race? >> i think the tea party is already baked into the cake. that establishment is against them. john boehner made it very clear there is no love lot of between them. a number of these groups, moderate republicans call these purity for profit groups. they basically say it's a financial sham. it's a way to raise money from activists. if you talk to the activists on the other hand, a lot of them were part of why they picked up republicans in 2010. they are not supportive of the speaker. they are not supportive of the house and senate leadership and they are serious about getting

rid of them. he had support all along, but if you chip away at the edges or start to slow his momentum for 2o 15 as speaker, that's when it starts to matter. the feud is real, but i don't think tea party members are losing any sleep over it whatsoever. >> you mentioned money there. this is one of the powerful and well funded outside groups. where is the money coming from for the madison project? >> it comes from groosz roots activists. with the advent of facebook and twitter, it is never easier for groups to have a nationwide base of support and they can their own information and ask for contributions from people who support them. if you have a group that is based in washington, you can get support from activists in washington state and funnel that or send that to groups that you support or candidates you support in georgia or alabama or louisiana. this network of grass roots donors made it possible for

these groups to welcome so powerful. >> just briefly before we go, boehner now are they going after other republicans who cooperated with democrat sms. >> i think absolutely. they will go after anybody in the house republican leadership or the senate republican leadership. what is new about this is they are going after any member of congress or candidate who said they would vote for the same leadership in the future. you are running for the house and do you support john boehner for speaker? that is the direction you are heading in. you get a sense of republican candidates who use this as a litmus test saying i am the real conservative because i don't support john baker for speaker. >> interparty warfare. just ahead, the treasury secretary sounds an optimistic note as he heads off to the g20.

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. taking a look at the markets now, the dow jones and s&p all moved higher today. the dow is up about 114 points well above 16,000. thanks, says my 401(k). leaders of gathering in sydney, australia to discuss the future of the markets. treasury secretary jack lew sat down for an interview with our chief business correspondent. he was upbeat about the u.s. economy. >> we look over the last year. we made new progress. we have seen a little bit of regularity returned to washington. we had a budget agreement at the end of the year and appropriation bill in january. there was agreement after years

on a farm bill. maybe, just maybe we will continue doing business that way. >> more action in four months than two or three years. >> the economic growth over the last six months and progress. >> that's it for me. newsroom with brooke baldwin starts now. great to be with all of you. i'm brooke baldwin. before i begin, a warning off the top here. some of the video you are about to see is quite graphic. >> in ukraine, the battle on the streets has intensified and snipers are firing