strong against injustice. >> reporter: the legendary property has been around for over 100 years, longer than beverly hills itself. >> it's not for a boycott of the beverly hills hotel but it's a focus on the government and their laws and not a statement about the hotel. >> reporter: ted rowlands, cnn, los angeles. that's it for "the lead." i turn you over to mr. wolf blitzer. new al qaeda threats. more sdochoolgirls are kidnappe vowing to sell them into slavery. and arresting dozens of terrorists accused of plotting attacks. wildfires exploding out of control. more than 1,000 are forced from their homes as scorching heat causes high flames in oklahoma. and ukrainian troops crack down on pro-russian separatists as

leaders warn of an all-out war. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." another savage terrorist and a major bust of an al qaeda cell right on the heels of a u.s. warning that al qaeda's affiliate groups are graining strength right now. eight more nigerian school girls have been kidnapped by a vicious islamist group, even as its leader boasts that he's going to sell 200 more young victims into slavery. and sued dee arabia says it has arrested dozens of people who plan to carry out attacks and assassinations. we have full coverage of these and other stories, including the bloody fighting in u krekraine. our correspondents are standing by here and around the world. we start with our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. barbara? >> wolf, at this hour, obama administration has issued a new

travel warning for americans even thinking of going to nigeria, warning of kidnappings, robberies. as the world watch es horrified boko haram kidnaps eight more girls. it's the latest attack inflicted on after krica's most vulnerabl. they are joining forces on bombing and assassinations and threatening attacks on western interests. boko haram, which has killed hundreds of nigerians, is stepping up its capabilities. >> they have directly threatened the united states. the united states' interest in western and northern africa and have vowed that they could conduct attacks again u.s. embassies in the region. >> reporter: the u.s. believes boko haram's leader had contact

with osama bin laden and warns that it has close ties to another affiliate in africa behind a natural gas plant explosion that killed 40 hostages. the two groups may now have trained together. a third al qaeda affiliate al shabaab has stepped up it is operations, even after the attack on the westgate shopping maul in nairobi. just this weekend, suspected militants attacked two buses in nigeria killing and injuring people. washington on monday announced it signed another ten-year lease to occupy a base in jabudi, a major hub for u.s. intelligence and counterterrorism operations in africa. the u.s. now hopes to send a team to nigeria to help find the

schoolgirls. >> it would include u.s. military personnel, law enforcement personnel and hostage negotiations. >> and then there is al qaeda in yemen, a source with access to the latest intelligence says that there is recent evidence they, too, have stepped up their active planning against the united states. wolf? >> barbara, stand by for a moment. i want to bring in mohammed jam joom. bus of a large cell tied to al qaeda, dozens of people arrested. what are you learning? >> that's right. it was a huge bust over the last couple of months in saudi arabia. it included multiple cells. the interior minister saying at least 66 al qaeda affiliates, mostly saudi citizens, were

arrested in the sweeps across the kingdom of saudi arabia. the spokesman for the interior minister said while most of these were saudis, some were pakistanis and the threat was not just for saudi arabia but they were trying to disrupt not onlied a while da and yemen but the inside syria area. this really goes to show how grave of a threat al qaeda still is in saudi arabia. let's remember when it formed, it formed because most of the militants inside saudi alabrabi went into yemen. aqap is saudi leadership. we're told that in fact still 44 people on the run still being pursued by saudi authorities today. wolf? >> mohammed, i'm going to have you stand by.

he has new information on the terror threats. barbara starr is still with us. our pentagon correspondent and tom fuentes is joining us. how significant would you say that this busting of the al qaeda-related terrorists in saudi arabia might be. because i asked the question remembering that 15 of the 19 911 hijackers were saudis. >> it's very significant, wolf. in fact, saudi arabia has said that they still have problems with militants. there are these huge busts of this type in saudi arabia, these operations that take a couple of months and then this big announcement is made. they talk about caches of weapons. the fact of the matter is, the biggest exporter in the world, one of the reasons that the u.s. and other countries are so concerned about al qaeda in yemen is because it's not just a threat towards the u.s. and towards other countries in yemen but also a huge threat towards

saudi arabia. a few years back, they actually tried to assassinate the deputy interior minister of saudi arabia. it was a very close call. this goes to show that militants is a problem and on the agenda when it comes to the interior minister there. >> let me bring in tom fuentes. it looks like al qaeda is far from gone right now, not necessarily al qaeda core, the main al qaeda, but all of these affiliate groups, we see what is happening in nigeria now, this group boko haram getting ready to sell them into captivity. this is a huge problem and i take it the u.s. is deeply concerned, based on everything that you are hearing as well. >> that's right, wolf. you have many groups that are basically somewhat unaffiliated or more and less independent. boko haram in nigeria has been somewhat independent from the mainstream al qaeda.

saudi arabia is the birth place and for years they ignored the problem and didn't want to bother with it because the stature of the family and their relationship to the relationship to saudi arabia. al qaeda broke that truce in 2003 with a number of bombings that killed hundreds of saudi arabian citizens. that's when their security force cracked down and many of the al qaeda fled into yemen and yemen is one of the poorest countries on the planet and they were overwhelmed and with a place to grow in yemen because of the weak government in yemen. >> let's not forget the saudi prominent family including bin laden as well. barbara, where does boko haram, this muslim terrorist group that has kidnapped all of these girls in nigeria, where does it fit into the big picture for the

u.s.? >> they may be an independent part of the al qaeda movement but what u.s. intelligence is noting is they have fighters that have moved out of nigeria, moved into other surrounding countries and may have gone further north on into libya and have been training with other al qaeda affiliates, learning bomb-making techniques, assassination techniques, attack operations planning, that sort of thing. so this is the fundamental problem with all of these affiliates as they increase their potential communications, operations, and training, all of these affiliates begin to pose essentially the same threat. their attacks may be inside their own countries but they can cross border and pose a very credible threat to western and u.s. interests in the region, wolf. >> very much on the move after all of these years. barbara starr, thank you so

much, mohammed, thanks to you. tom fuentes, thanks. just ahead, the family of the kidnapped girls are beyond desperate. we're going live to nigeria. plus, are we about to see a legal battle between the nba and the ousted clippers' owner, donald sterling? that's coming up. andma? just a second, sweetie. [ female announcer ] we eased your back pain, you turned up the fun. tylenol® provides strong pain relief while being gentle on your stomach. but for everything we do, we know you do so much more. tylenol®. how much money do you think you'll need when you retire? then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. i was trying to, like, pull it a little further. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going to have to rethink this thing. it's hard to imagine how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. so maybe we need to approach things differently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement.

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we're seeing new signs of a potential monumental legal battle brewing between the nba and donald sterling. our correspondent suzanne malveaux is working this story for us. you're hearing about an important development emerging? >> yes. this happened within the last

hour or so. andy roser, the guy who was supposed to take over the clippers after donald sterling was banned for life is now going to be taking an indefinite leave of absence effective immediately. that announcement came in just the past hour. you may recall it was roser who immediately defended sterling when the rants -- racist rants surfaced. now the nba is saying that the removal provides a new ceo to come in with a clean slate. >> 122-105. >> reporter: it was an offensive show of force for the clippers last night and donald sterling could be looking to do the same thing in the courtroom. sterling is shopping for a legal team, says tmz, to fight the nchl ba for forcing him to sell the team, including the firm who recently represented paula deen

after she was caught making racist comments. none of the parties involved would make a comment. a protracted legal battle may be what sterling has in mind. >> there is nothing to be gained by a quick transaction. one of the things that people are speculating about now is that he's involved in a litigation strategy to stave off any sale of the team until after he naturally expires. >> reporter: while keeping the team isn't a certainty, death and taxes are. however, in this case, if sterling dies, his family could be spared from having to pay millions of dollars in capital gains taxes. should sterling be forced to sell the team himself, he, too, could be spared because of an obscure tax law that might keep him from paying a $300 million tax. >> we can expect that donald sterling, given his appetite for litigation, given his appetite for lawyers, that he would perhaps try and shield himself using this particular code section.

>> reporter: if sterling isn't forced to sell, it could hurt the nba. eric said he would support a boycott of clippers' games. as for the clippers' team, the league will appoint a new ceo of the team and that ceo whether andy has put in a leave of absence stays or goes. we're looking to find out whether or not the three-fourths of them vote to force sterling to sell the time. >> we're told that the vote will be happening very soon. suzanne malveaux reporting. let's dig deeper now with our cnn anchor don lemon, our cnn legal analyst jeffrey toobin. explain what a bunch of tough lawyers could potentially do with aggressive tactics, if you will. >> think about depositions. the issue is misconduct by the owner. one tact a lawyer representing

don sterling could say, let's get all of the owners of the nba and put them all under oath and ask them what they have said in private conversations. and do they have mistresses as well? and do they have women who have tape recorded them? that would certainly give pause. now, i don't know if a judge would allow those depositions to take place. certainly lawyers for the nba would fight it but the best defense is usually a good offense and putting the nba and its owners on trial is certainly what one thing that would be on their minds. >> how ugly, don, do you think this legal battle could become? it could hurt the legal potentially tremendously? >> it's going to get ugly. i think the league is ready for it. they are selling t-shirts saying we are one with either the league logo on it are on the clippers' logo on it. i think the league is ready to fight this and they'd rather have it over. it's going to be a long p protracted fight. what is worse for the league is

to have an owner like donald sterling and they know it and the clippers know it. that's why they put that ceo on indefinite leave because they want to start with a clean slate, wolf. they don't want to have this. they want to put this in the rear-view mirror. look what happened when they had their minds on basketball. chris paul, 32 points. they came up on fire last night and they beat oklahoma city thunder. >> they certainly did. congratulations to the clippers on that. congratulations to the washington wizards for winning last night as well. he's 80 years old, jeffrey. supposedly he has prostate cancer. some people say it may be more serious than what meets the eye, if you will. do you think at this stage in his life he wants to -- his legacy has already been so badly damaged. he wants to get involved in a brutal fight with so many of his fellow owners and the new commissioner of the nba? >> you could look at that precisely the other way and say, he's got so little time to lose,

why not fight it out? why not protect his name? why not go out, you know n. a blaze of glory as opposed to surrendering. >> he could protect his name in a lot better ways. we've talked about this, don. you agree with me? >> i do but he's denying the cancer rumors. barbara walters said he denied having cancer. he said i'm not his doctor but he did not confirm to her that he had cancer and she spoke to him. so we don't know and that's so far cnn has not confirmed that. the best way i agree for him to go out is to have a conciliatory tone and to say, listen, i'm not a racist and whatever happened on the tape is not how i feel. i was having a fight with my girlfriend and things escalated and li will work the rest of my life to correct that and i'm going to go out the way i should

and i love the team and i wish them well. i know he probably won't do, that jeffrey. we're just saying here. >> short of a personality transplant, i don't think any of that is likely to happen. >> we know. we know. >> stuff happens. we'll see what happens. guys, don't go too far away. up next, ukrainian leaders fight pro-russian rebels. also, more than 1,000 are forced out of their homes as wildfires are exploding out of control in oklahoma. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." whatever happened to good? good is choosing not to overshoot the moon, but to land right on it. good is maxwell house. ♪ good to the last drop

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as to why they have shortchanged these customers. but that would require wifi. switch to comcast business internet and get two wifi networks included. comcast business built for business. bloody clashes in ukraine as government forces step up their campaign to dislodge pro-russian separatists who have taken over cities and towns after an urgent top diplomats, european leaders are worried that ukraine is headed to all-out civil war. and u.s. troops are putting on a show of force in the region meant to calm ukraine's nervous neighbors. we have our correspondents and analysts here in the region and nick paton walsh is standing by. he's in eastern ukraine, ride in the middle of this.

let's go to jim sciutto. he's in "the situation room" with the very latest. >> wolf, nothing clearly moving in the right direction. you can hear the frustration in secretary kerry's comments today after meeting with the eu foreign minister katherine ashton. he took aim at claims from a crimea-like referendum in eastern ukraine. practically joked at rush shsia claims are up for election but ukraine is not and that is as nato is expanding its military exercises as a message to russia. american paratroopers landing in waves in poland alongside nato allies, part of a series of expanded exercises in eastern europe. defense secretary chuck hagel made clear it was in response to russian action in ukraine.

>> as we've seen, we must prepare in which nations deploy irregular forces, conduct cyber terrorism. >> reporter: on the ground, that shadowy conflict is already under way. here residents of slovyansk pick over one of several helicopters shot down by pro-russian separatists and as they push farther into the east, the death toll is rising. over the past several days, five ukrainian soldiers and 30 pro-russian paramilitaries, killed. >> translator: we confirm there are foreign soldiers from the russian federation, foreign soldiers coming from the territory of the autonomous republic of crimea and local criminals who possess weapons and shoot our people. >> reporter: today, the pro-russian separatists announced a referendum on sunday, a vote that u.s.

officials summarily dismiss. >> we reject this pursuit and it will create more problems in the effort to try to deescalate the situation. this is really the crimea play book all over again and no civilized nation is going to recognize the results of such a bogus effort. >> reporter: all this makes a difficult backdrop for national elections scheduled for may 25th. the obama administration has declared any disruption of the vote caused for broader and more painful, sectoral sanctions. >> if it doesn't happen, hopefully it doesn't happen because it's being delayed for a good reason. if it doesn't happen because this -- whatever we call it, insurgency, a legal attack, shooting on the ground is going on, that's a bad reason. >> with the propaganda machine

in full force, russia is building two narratives, for one making a case that ukraine is just too unstable to hold elections later this month. this is not afghanistan, the foreign minister sergey lavrov said. and at the same time, one example caught my eye, the russian government, wolf, claiming that it has received thousands of phone calls from ethnic russians in ukraine begging for help. >> we heard that about crimea, too. we know what happened there. jim, stand by for a moem. the bitter hatred, the brutal hatred conditions. cnn's nick paton walsh is at the town of slovyansk, eastern u kre ukraine. what is the situation there?

>> reporter: most soldiers on the ukrainian side we've spoken to believe they will have to penetrate deep into that city center and really people really wondering quite what they intend violence yesterday and a military spokesman told me that ten were killed and four of their soldiers and at least 40 others injured. crossing between ukrainian and pro-russian lines seems to take age. the army the day before amassed on this highway checkpoint and advanced in the worst fighting yet. but now drive into the wreckage of the violence and it's clear they have vanished. it's one of the hardest things to understand about ukrainian military campaign here. they fought intensely for this highway yesterday to a great loss of life and like in many towns where they advance, they don't hold the ground and have pulled back. where ten militants died, said

their spokesman, now unarmed locals pile up trash, everyone keeping distance, everyone digging in. particularly here, the nerve center of the militants, a sense of finality about the stand they are taking, rumors of rocketed attacks, snipers, symptoms of the storm they think is coming. sergey used to run the checkpoint you saw earlier but now mourns his friends. dennis shot in the head by a large caliber bullet, he says. this mre packet, part of meals americans are supplying ukraine's army is to him evidence of something bigger. i can tell you 100%, he says, this is evidence of american mersonaries fighting against the people here. but earlier the scene was different and filled with anxiety. in the basement of a security service building is apparently

filling up. a student from kiev, a student, was caught with a rock sack and sleeping bag with dirty clothes and detained as a spy. i asked about him, she says, and they only make prisoner swaps for fighters. i asked, would they use him as a human shield if the army came? i asked, would you shoot him if you have to flee in they said they didn't know. the new order here subsuming the old as the army nears how it came to power may be how it leaves, too. now really asking if the elections on may 25th will happen here in an orderly or normal fashion, that's sort of a joke here. eyes are on may 11th when the

referendum and separatists say they will face the fate and bring it close to russia if not make it part of russia. the question is, what does the ukrainian army actually do. they have little counter insurge gener ncy experience and many worry if they move into slovyansk, it will be extraordinarily bloody. wolf? >> let's hope not. nick paton walsh, be careful. thank you very much. the violence is not, repeat, not, only limited to eastern ukraine. let's dig a little deeper. jim sciutto is here and julia ioffe is also here. what is very worrisome in addition to eastern ukraine but odessa, further south to the central part of ukraine, there's violence, bitter violence in odessa. >> that's right. the problem is, you can't really tell to what extent this has anything to do with how the local population feels or if this is, you know, fringe

elements fighting it out on the streets of odessa. what's also clear is that as this escalates, it's going to be harder and harder for all sides to walk it back. >> is there an end game that putin has here? you've spent a lot of time in your career, julia, studding putin. what is his end game in what does he want? >> i'm not sure he's figured it out yet. i think he's trying to keep his options opened. i'm not sure that he wants to annex eastern ukraine the way he did crimea, although he probably hasn't ruled that out. he wants to destabilize ukraine enough, make these -- throw -- cast enough doubt on these coming elections on may 25th to say, look, ukraine is a failed state. ukraine can't handle its own territory, its army doesn't work. is this the kind of nation that you want and also here we are exercising some, you know, control, shadowing control over the country. >> jim, you've spoken to u.s. officials who are working this

24/7. how concerned are that this could explode to an all out civil war? >> no one is talking about a serious situation yet but it could get worse. julia make as good point. these paramilitaries can be directed but can they necessarily be controlled? this is a difficult thing. you let the genie out of the bottle and not only the people themselves but the animosity. you're creating divisions inside of a country that is divided historically and it causes fears and it's difficult to complain and you'll hear, john kerry said it today, all of the things happening in eastern ukraine and in odessa now is out of the crimea playbook. they are not sure what putin's intentions are but it looks like a similar lead up to what happened here. >> guys, stand by because we're following some important news just coming in. the white house, guess what, is currently on a lockdown

situation due to a security problem over at one of the entrances to the white house. let's go to our white house correspondent michelle kosinski. i take it you're inside the white house right now. what do we know? >> reporter: you recognize that we're in the briefing room and we haven't been able to leave for an hour now. that's how long the white house has been under a lockdown. we got some confirmed information as to what exactly happened here and it's an unusual situation. a car, just a civilian, regular person's car followed a motorcade. we're not sure who's. i don't know if you know where pennsylvania avenue is that we're looking at but it's blocked off. it's a pedestrian area right outside the white house but cars can't go in there. it's been that way since '95. the barriers came down, let in the motorcade, a car followed that motorcade in. secret service says that it was immediately stopped, though, and the driver is now in custody. now, all of these journalists

here in the briefing room are somewhat trapped trying to make their deadlines. they had their big interviews with the president today and are not able to leave here. we don't know how long this will continue. since the driver is in custody, we assume that this is going to end soon, wolf. >> make sure that nothing is in that car so out of abundance of caution, they want to thoroughly go through that vehicle to make sure that there is nothing inside that could be damaging to the white house or to the president or anybody else, for that matter. michelle, we'll stay in close touch with you. thanks very much. let's hope that lockdown ends very soon. coming up, we have another i can braieaking news story. wildfire is causing evacuations. we're going live to oklahoma. [ hypnotist ] you are feeling satisfied

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following more breaking news, president obama is speaking out about the kidnapping of hundreds of school girls by islamist militants in nye engine nigeria. >> this is a terrible situation. boko haram, this terrorist organization that's been operating in nigeria has been killing people and innocent civilians for a very long time. we've always identified them as one of the worst local or regional terrorist organizations there is out there but i can only imagine what the parents are going through. what we've done is we have offered and it's been accepted help from our military and law enforcement officials. we're going to do everything that we can to provide assistance to them. >> and we're learning that at least eight more girls have been abducted, the victims, ages 12

to 15, were taken from gunpoint, apparently by islamic militants and are vowing to sell them. cnn's isha sesay is joining us from the capital city of abuja. isha, what are you hearing on the ground there? >> reporter: more girls have been taken from their home. boko haram continues to launch these incessant attacks in the northern part of the country. this is a time of great anxiety here and the fact that the president announced on sunday the president of nigeria that they have no idea where the previous 200 girls are makes this assistance from the united states all the more crucial, all the more essential and people are really hoping, wolf, that this will be the turning point in the search and rescue effort.

nigeria's first lady breaks down in tears overcome, like her country, at the plight of hundreds of schoolgirls kidnapped by boko haram, an islamic militant group that opposes western education, especially for females. >> translator: girls, you should go and get married. i will repeat this. western education should fold up. >> reporter: boko haram has killed thousands of men, women, and children on attacks of mosques and schools and churches. the latest move, abducting schoolgirls for human trafficking. this man claims to be the leader of boko haram.

>> translator: i have abducted your girls. i will sell them in the market by allah. >> reporter: the horror of his threat is now drawing global attention, sparking demonstration in london and washington. >> the fact that you are looking for an education and then you're snatched in the middle of the night, that to me is deplorable. >> reporter: the u.s. is reiterating offers of help. >> it would include u.s. military personnel, law enforcement officials with expertise and investigations and hostage negotiations. >> reporter: nigeria is welcoming help. will it arrive in time to save hundreds of girls to be sold as child brides or slaves. that is the hope and the prayer that it will arrive in time. people are anxious to see these girls returned home to their families. wolf? >> isha sesay live in abuja for

us, thank you. joining us is the author of the book "bring back our girls." you spoke to one of the fathers of the girls. describe that conversation. >> well, the communication is really rough but he and the other parents are just beside themselves because their daughters -- this is an area where most women are not literate and their daughters are the brightest lights in their communities. they are now on the cusp of graduating from high school, becoming doctors, lawyers, teachers. they embody their families' hopes, their community's hope and now because of a lack of security they have become kidnapped and now they are being sold for $12 each to be sex slaves for militants. and it adds to their grief and despair when the nigerian government seems to have little

interest, frankly, in pursing the kidnappers. these dads went after the kidnappers with bows and arrows into a nearby forest, pursing them and villagers said, yes, the girls were taken in here and they told the nigerian authorities who then didn't do much of anything except to announce that, oh, yes, an operations under way and the girls will soon be free and that was three weeks ago. >> i know you got a chance to speak with secretary of state john kerry about this. is the u.s. doing everything it can possibly do to get these girls free? >> i just -- i really don't know. i think it does help when secretary kerry speaks out when president obama speaks out. essentially, there's been a real lack of will on the part of the nigerian president and i think that this kind of global spotlight does increase the heat

on him to do more. i think that the u.s. may be able to help with intelligence cooperation, either through satellites or through reconnaissance aircraft to see what is happening in northern nigeria to try to locate those girls and also, for example, a report that some were taken to an island in lake chad and that area is not forested and if there are a bunch of girls there, we should be able to find that relatively easily. and so i'm hoping that we can at least, you know, locate them and then help prod and shame the nigerian authorities in really working to get these girls back. >> i hope so as well. nick kristof, thanks for the excellent work that you are doing. we'll stay on top of the stories. nick kristof with "the new york times," thank you. just ahead, residents evacuate a wind-fueled wildfire. the latest in oklahoma.

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we're following a new wildfire that's threatening homes, forcing residents to flee in western oklahoma. it's the latest in a series of blazes fuelled by high winds, very low humidity. cnn's martin savidge is in guthrie, oklahoma, for us. what's the latest? >> reporter: wolf, the fire danger in oklahoma is staid to be extreme. a red flag warning is out for

about the entire state. today was bad, tomorrow is expected to be even worse. high winds, record heat, and drought have become a lethal mix in the southwest. the combination exploding in guthrie, oklahoma. monday, winds above 30 miles per hour propelled flames from what was supposed to be a controlled burn, turning them into an out of control raging wildfire. upwards of 1,000 people were forced from their homes as the flames raced across 3,000 to 4,000 acres, destroying as many as 30 structures. two separate fires affected mostly rural areas, but the high heat took a toll on those trying to bring them under control. at least 84 firefighters were treated for various heat-related illnesses, including dehydration and exhaustion. helicopters carried huge buckets of water to try and slow the fire's advance. by this morning, crews had the blazes largely contained. authorities say one resident died after refusing to leave his

mobile home as the flames advanced. guthrie's nightmare could soon be felt by many across the region. forecasters predict soaring temperatures reaching nearly 100 degrees. add low humidity and gusty winds and even a small fire could turn into a blowtorch. it's why many here are looking for smoke, while keeping another on the weather forecast hoping for rain. back here in guthrie, we can show you what the fire did. that house burned down to its foundation. look at this, this was a trailer home. by the way, this isn't material here. this is all the roof and the walls of what was left of it. here you can see the frame of the trailer burned absolutely to the ground. and then this was the suv that was parked in the driveway here. it's absolutely destroyed, and yeah, this, that's not modern art, that's what happens to aluminum in a high temperature environment. you could say when the fire came through here for awhile, it was

hell on earth. wolf? >> thank you. coming up, fires and drought, floods and storms, the white house now warning catastrophic climate changes are already taking place. and she was the white house intern in the sex scandal that almost brought down president clinton. now monica lewinsky is speaking out. i always say be the man with the plan

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happening now, a climate catastrophe. stand by for a dire new report that helps explain our extreme weather and how it's affecting all of us right now. every part of the nation is getting hit, and the worst is coming. plus, monica lewinsky breaks her silence nearly two decades after the sex scandal that made her a household name. she's opening up about her affair with bill clinton. she's opening up about hillary clinton's reaction, and lewinsky also revealing she was once tempted to kill herself during her darkest days. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around

the world. i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the situation room." this is cnn breaking news. >> the breaking news this hour, president obama speaking out about something that sounds like a doomsday forecast, scorching heat, stronger hurricanes, floods, fires, torrential down pours and droughts. he's promoting a brand new, just released white house report and it spells out the potentially devastating impact of climate change on every part of the nation and draws a clear link to the extreme weather we've been experiencing. the president warning, action is needed now. >> this is not some distant problem of the future. this is a problem that is affecting americans right now. whether it means increased flooding, greater vulnerability to drought, more severe wildfires, all these things are having an impact on americans as we speak. >> let's bring in cnn's brian todd. he's working the story for us.

brian, a very, very dire report released by the white house. >> absolutely it is, wolf. one official told us that the temperatures we've seen over the past decade have been hotter than what was recorded in the last 1,400 years or more. 2012 was the hottest year ever recorded in u.s. history. this new report warns what we'll face in the very near future, but says essentially americans are already feeling the effects of global warming. the forecast is dire. more torrential rain, like pensacola's record dell yuj that washes out streets and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. the threat of climate change is already in our backyards, according to a new report commissioned by the white house, and it's not just a distant warning about the future of polar bears. >> climate change in the u.s. is happening now. >> donald and a team of scientists behind the report are calling for urgent action. they warn of the dangers americans are facing directly as a result of climate change in each region.

in the heavily populated northeast, more coastal storm surges, heavier than ever down pours. >> that leads to more flooding, more concerns about flooding. at the same time, sea level rising, more in the northeast than most of the rest of the country, actually. >> that means railways submerged, other big transportation disruptions. in the southeast, especially in coastal areas, rising sea levels. >> and then the other big concern is the increased intensity of hurricanes. >> in the midwest and plains states, flooding in some areas, water shortages caused by too little rain in others. and in the west, more crippling drought. experts say we're already in the third straight year of drought in that region, and it has a dangerous by-product. >> drier temperatures, drier soils, all help lead to more wildfires and we've been seeing that. >> officials say to illustrate how climate change is impacting conditions on the ground in the west, president obama was shown these two sharply contrasting satellite photos.

they show the snow pack along california's border with nevada on january 13th, 2013, and the same place, same day, one year later. the report's authors say you might escape some weather hazards in your region, but there's one phenomenon every american will feel. >> every american is seeing more days coming as extreme hot days and that trend is likely to continue in the future. >> with more extended heat waves, he says, especially in the west. donald wubbles says we can mitigate this if we emphasize on conserving energy, but he also says the climate is going to continue to change no matter what we do because of what we've already put in the atmosphere and we all have to adapt to it. wolf? >> all right, brian, thanks very much. let's bring in our severe weather expert, chad myers, and our cnn analyst miles o'brian. miles, certainly isn't the first dire report that's emerged from

washington or the united nations or other international bodies. why is this one potentially more significant? >> you know, what catches my ear on this one, wolf, is the tense. it's not a forecast, it's a now-cast. they are talking about things that are happening right now. we're talking about increased rainfall in some places, drought in other places, a warmer and longer summer, and things like hurricane sandy, which have really brought home to americans all over this country that climate change is here and now. that's what is different about this report, it's not something down the road, it's something that's happening. >> chad, you're one of the top meteorologists in the world right now. your attitude toward climate change over these years has certainly evolved. where do you stand now? >> ten years ago, miles and i had the same conversation and i said, miles, you know what, there are still other options. it might not be human made. you know, hit me over the head enough times with a board, i'll tell you stop, i'll say uncle, and over the past ten years, my

opinion has been there is nothing else. all of these zombie theories we know they are called, what could be a heat isle, all these things have been completely disproven. here's what the glacier looks like up in alaska, one of the glaciers. it's lake. ocean front property there. this is what it looked like in 1941. this is the ice that is now gone. we're at a tipping point and i think we as americans and world citizens need to realize we are at this point now. there's really nothing else that can make this. >> so here's the question to both of you. first to you, miles, this new report, is it going to really make much of a difference? >> i think what you heard from chad is actually significant. i think there is a seat change under way. when the surgeon's general report came out on cigarettes in the '60s, there was a period of time when people were debating whether cigarettes caused cancer and health effects, and on the one side was the tobacco industry, heavily funded. we've gotten to the point where it is an assumption that it is

happening. we can now move on to thinking about ways to adapt, because a lot of what we've done here is unstoppable. >> i assume you agree, chad, but go ahead. >> you know, if we know there are going to be very heavy rain amounts all at one time and then big droughts, maybe we need to build more reservoirs. we are very smart people. we can kind of mitigate the big effects of this. now, you can't really move miami back a couple hundred feet, trying to get it out of the way of a rising ocean, but there are things we can still do. >> i think you're both right. chad myers, miles o'brien, guys, thanks very much. all right. we're just learning more about that incident that caused a lockdown at the white house. that lockdown was lifted just moments ago. this new video shows a man who was taken into custody. a source familiar with the incident tells cnn that an individual was following a motorcade on to pennsylvania avenue that was carrying the obama daughters, sasha and

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monica lewinsky now says it's time to stop tiptoeing around her past and to speak out about her affair with president bill clinton and what it cost her. former white house intern is now going public after years of silence. she's written a revealing new essay about her life now and then. it's in the new edition of "vanity fair" magazine, coming out later this week. cnn's tom foreman is here with details. she is really, really opening up about how this impacted her life. >> yeah, and what you think about what this story did to american politics and american life, this is a big deal. this article answers a huge number of questions that have burned up washington political and social circles for years now. and, of course, it will almost certainly ignite a new firestorm around the talk of a hillary clinton campaign for president. almost two decades after her relationship with the president

shocked the nation, monica lewinsky is back in the news, telling "vanity fair" it's time to burn the beret and bury the blue dress. in an essay out this week, the 40 year old says the backlash to her affair with bill clinton has dogged her every single day and even pushed her to thoughts of suicide as she hunkered down in an apartment in the infamous watergate building. my mother stayed by my bed night after night, because i was suicidal, she writes. the shame, the scorn, and the fear that had been thrown at her daughter left her afraid that i would take my own life, a fear that i would be literally humiliated to death. lewinsky maintains the affair was consensual. any abuse came in the aftermath when i was made a scapegoat to protect his powerful position, the clinton administration, the

special prosecutors minions, the political operatives on both sides of the aisle and the media were able to brand me, and that brand stuck. in part because it was imbued with power. she says the notoriety deterred employers from hiring her, even forced her to become reclusive to avoid attention during hillary clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, but not anymore. recently i found myself gun shy yet again, fearful of becoming an issue should hillary clinton decide to ramp up her campaign, she writes. but should i put my life on hold for another eight to ten years? lewinsky also responds to recently discovered documents that say hillary clinton called her "a narcissistic loony toon after the 1997 scandal." if that's the worst thing she said, i should be so lucky, lewinsky writes, but also, she may have faulted her husband for being inappropriate, but i find her impulse to blame the woman not only me, but herself,

troubling. in addition to all of that, lewinsky says she deeply regrets what happened with president clinton and realizes there may be consequences for speaking out now, but she's ready for them. the magazine comes out in new york and los angeles and a variety of wireless devices on may 8th. a lot of people will be reading it. everywhere else, goes on sale may 13th. >> the excerpt today is a powerful excerpt indeed. tom, thanks very much. let's bring in our panel, jeffrey toobin is the author of "vast conspiracy: the real story of the sex scandal that nearly brought down a president." also with us, anna navarro and our cnn anchor, don lemon. you know, you wrote the book on this whole sex scandal. it really changed her life. she went on to go to the london school of economics, got a master's degree, but she's now 40 years old, she can't really get a serious job. >> and more importantly from her perspective, because i did a lot of reporting about her, i've met her. she wanted one thing out of

life, she wanted to get married and have a family. here she is, 40 years old, hasn't happened for her, no career, no family. it's a sad story. she behaved badly, the president behaved badly, but no one deserves to suffer for this long. she's become so famous, so infamous, that unlike the president, she's not been able to get her life on track and it's sad. >> she's 40 now, 24 at the time of the affair. don, she writes this in the article, i was never quite right for the position. in some cases, i was right for all the wrong reasons, as in, of course your job would require you to attend events and these would be events at which press would be in attendance. she explains very, very clearly why she couldn't even find a job. no one wanted to hire her. >> well, that's not that no one wanted to hire her. listen, what you said, you said an important number there. you said 24 years old. well, i have empathy for monica lewinsky at the time this

happened she was a grown woman, 24 is grown. people get married at 24, and a lot younger. you get jobs, you make your way in life, you handle your business at 24 years old. yes, he was in a position of power over her, but she was a grown woman at the time. now, monica lewinsky and i lived in new york at the same time when this scandal was going on and afterwards. she got a job, remember, wolf, as a handbag designer. remember those days? she was selling handbags. people were offering her jobs then. she was going around new york city, many times alone sitting in restaurants alone and meeting people, so i felt sorry for her then, but monica lewinsky has a chance now and has had the chance to correct the record. look at people now who have had worst scandals than monica lewinsky. they have been caught on tape having sex, like the kardashians and others, and they have turned their careers around and made millions and have come back. monica lewinsky has the same chance in america.

she does not have photographs of her having sex, she does not have video of her having sex. yes, it's a horrible tale, but she is in control of her own destiny and own story, and perhaps this magazine article will help her do that. >> anna, let me read another couple sentences from the article, get your reaction. she writes this, i myself deeply regret what happened between me and president clinton. let me say it again, i. myself. deeply. regret. what happened. i am determined to have a different ending to my story. you read the excerpt. anna, what did you think? >> you know, i'd almost felt like a public coming to terms with what happened, you know, i think she wants to move on, she wants to bury the blue dress, she wants to burn the beret. i think we should all help her do that by not talking about this anymore. clearly, president clinton has moved on. clearly, he has, you know,

redeveloped the relationships with his family, with his life, with his daughter. i think the country has moved on, and i really do hope that monica lewinsky at 40 can move on and can have a life. if she's listening right now, monica, 40's a great age, you know, you have an entire life ahead of you. move on. move on and go do things with your life. let go of this baggage that she's been carrying for 16 years. >> i agree. >> you know, jeffrey, she says she's written this article, she wants to help other people who have been so publicly humiliated, move on, she wants to do that from her example. can she do that? >> well, her example is actually not a very positive one. she has not been able to move on. that's the whole story of her life for the past 16 years. >> a lot of that is in her head. >> i don't know what kind of advice she can give. look, i wish this woman well. the problem also is, she never

had a skill. she was a kid. she was just graduated from college. it's not like, you know, bill clinton, for example, who was president of the united states who had all sorts of other accomplishments. she had no marketable skill that she could sort of turn back to. she had to start from scratch and, you know, with that sort of notoriety it was very difficult. look, i'm sympathetic to her. >> i must say -- >> go ahead, ana. >> i must say, wolf, i'm not sure that if she wants to move on, working with people who in her mind have lived something similar to her is the best way to move on. maybe somebody that's watching today can call her and offer her a job doing whatever, you know, take it. if it means being a clerk, if it means being whatever. take it and go, you know, do move on for real. >> hold on for a moment. we're going to continue this conversation. i want to take a quick break. when we come back, we'll also move on and we'll talk about this new essay by monica lewinsky and will it affect

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talking about monica lewinsky, she's now breaking her silence in a brand new magazine essay about her relationship with president bill clinton and the scandal that forced her to hide from the world. so will it make an impact on

hillary clinton the 2016 presidential race if she runs? we're back with our panel, jeff toobin, ana navarro, don lemon. what do you think, will it make a difference? >> i don't think it will make a difference. young people really don't care. it's a different time. as i was saying before, listen, if you're asking me should monica lewinsky capitalize on her scandal, i would say absolutely yes, there are many people in the modern culture who have done it and she has a degree from the london school of economics. i don't feel sorry for her, she can get a job. i don't think it makes a difference, older partisan people may make a difference to some of those folks, but no, not at all. people, it's water under the bridge. >> what do you think, ana? >> look, i think hillary clinton knows that if she runs for president she needs to put on her big girl pants and that a lot of things are going to be brought up. i think it's important to note that this is not getting brought up in a political context and not being brought up by anybody in politics, but by monica

lewinsky herself, who might be wanting to put it out there, anticipating a possible hillary clinton candidacy and nomination and not wanting it to come out then. i think that if anybody in politics tries to bring this out, it can end up having a backlash and backfiring, because i think most women the last thing we want is to see another woman being attacked and having her being gone after over something her husband did. >> but jeffrey, you remember like all of us remember in 2008 when she ran for the democratic nomination, it really wasn't an issue, the monica lewinsky, but now we have at least one potential republican candidate, rand paul, talking about bill clinton as a sexual predator could come up this next time. >> it could come up, but people have made up their minds about this story long ago, and remember, in the immediate aftermath of this scandal, she got elected to the senate. almost immediately afterwards, so if anything it redounded to her benefit. i think people have made up their mind. it's an interesting story. >> she's saying in this article

it is consensual. if it is consensual between an adult who was between 24 and 25 years old, you cannot be a sexual predator if an adult is consenting. >> go ahead, ana. >> wolf, i would say to any of my -- to any of the republicans listening, particularly anybody thinking of running for president, please don't go there. please, don't use this. we have got to scrutinize hillary clinton's record and she's got one. that can go through any and the most scrutiny you want, but really, is it fair to scrutinize hillary clinton over actions done by bill clinton and monica lewinsky in 1997, 1998? i think most people would say no. >> she did write this, sure my boz took advantage of me, but it was a consensual relationship. any abuse came in the aftermath when i was made a scapegoat in order to protect his powerful position. all right, guys, sure there's

going to be a lot more coming out when more of this essay emerges in the coming days thanks to all three of you, jeffrey toobin, don lemon, ana navarro. good conversation. you can catch more of this and later subject, later tonight, special report with don lemon that airs only here on cnn. 10:00 p.m. eastern. i recommend you check it out. 10:00 p.m. eastern. other news we're following, leaders of the republican establishment are promising to crush tea party challengers in this midterm election year. we're getting an early test of that today as three states hold primary contests, including north carolina, where voting ends soon. our political reporter peter hamby is in north carolina for us. set the scene for us, peter. >> reporter: hey, wolf, you're exactly right. look, outside groups, the republican establishment that galaxy of party committees, operatives, business interests, who really above all else care about winning and taking over the u.s. senate are really