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tv   Wolf  CNN  May 15, 2014 10:00am-11:01am PDT

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ail the phone company to inquire 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. right now, the veterans affairs secretary, eric shinseki, says reports of health care delays make him, quote, mad as hell, but he says he won't resign unless he's asked to by the president. also right now, nine confirmed wildfires are burning in san diego county. high temperatures, strong winds, a record-breaking drought mean the worst may be yet to come. and right now, turkish police using fire hoses to head off protesters angry over the government's response to a mine disaster. so far nearly 300 miners are
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dead. dozens may still be trapped inside. hello, i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. a senate panel demanding answers in the scandal over veterans dying while waiting for medical care. a cnn investigation first exposed the problems. we've been reporting for months now on the deadly wait times and the efforts to try to cover them up. the veterans affairs secretary, eric shinseki, faced some tough questions today from senators. shinseki says the inspector general should be allowed to finish investigating, but he says he's, quote, mad as hell about the situation. senator john mccain called the treatment of veterans "shameful." >> no one should be treated this way in a country as great as ours. but treating those to whom we owe the most socalously, so ungratefully is unconscionable. and we should all be ashamed. >> if any allegations are true,
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they're completely unacceptable. to me, to veterans, and i will tell you the vast majority of dedicated vha employees who come to work every day to do their best by those veterans. if any are substantiated by the inspector general, we will act. >> chris is joining us from cnn investigations. so how did the senators, chris, respond to shinseki's testimony? >> wolf, lots of tough questions today from both democrats and republicans. chairman bernie sanders himself questioning shinseki and asking him directly, was he cooking the books? we have the exchange here. >> in your judgment, based on what you know, are people quote, unquote, cooking the books? is that, in fact, a problem within the health care system? >> i'm not aware, other than a number of isolated cases, where
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there is evidence of that. but the fact that there is evidence in a couple of cases behooves us to go and take a thorough look. >> you know, the president asked rob neighbors, his deputy chief of staff, to come in to help the department of veterans affairs deal with all of these investigations. what does that say, that the president is now asking a top adviser at the white house, to go over there and deal with this crisis? >> well, wolf, i think it's clear that the president knows that this is a big problem. we've seen this from this white house before. remember when we had trouble with obamacare. he brought in the fixer to fix the website on obamacare. so this is not uncommon, and it's a way for the president to say that i'm engaged. i'm putting my top guys on it and that i know that this is a problem and that shinseki's going to get help from this white house. >> months necessarily a vote of confidence. they say they're not asking him to resign at least not yet. the american legion is asking him to resign, a veterans group, as we all know. now, drew griffin, our
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investigations unit, they have done excellent reporting on that phoenix v.a. hospital -- the delays, some leading apparently to deaths of some of those veterans who needed health care but didn't get it in time. how widespread is this? we know there's a serious problem in phoenix. what about elsewhere across the country? >> well, wolf, we're getting tips from all across the country. and it looks like this is not an isolated incident. in fact, the v.a. itself has said that they can tie at least 23 deaths back to these delays in care. so this is something that we're continuing to investigate. and senators later today will have a chance to answer -- excuse me, to ask the office of inspector general these same kind of questions. they're investigating this. they're the independent agency looking into it. so we may get some more answers this afternoon about just how widespread the investigators think this is as well. >> chris frates reporting. shinseki, the secretary, he's still inside that hearing room, but he's supposed to come out, speak to reporters at the mike stones set up outside.
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we'll have live coverage of that coming up this hour. let's see how long that takes. thanks very much. coming up at the bottom of the hour, senator blumenthal of connecticut joins us live. he sits on the veterans affairs committee. he's a veteran himself. we'll ask him what he thinks that secretary shinseki should do next. nine serious wildfires now raging across california, san diego county. at this time yesterday there were only one. there was only one. some of these blazes are perilously close to the marine corps base at camp pendleton, the nuclear power plant that's not far away. one of the most ferocious wildfires is in the city of san marcos, san diego county officials say at least homes, dozens of other structures already have been lost. a firefighter describes the difficult conditions. >> we have erratic winds. we have low humidity down into the single digits. and we're being handed severe -- bad hand right now in fighting this fire.
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>> akiko fujita is joining us now, covering the story for us in the coastal city of carlsbad. akiko, are the residents there heeding the evacuation orders? what's happening on the ground? >> reporter: well, they are certainly heeding the evacuations, wolf. you know, you heard from that official right there about that fire in san marcos. that's to the east of us. that is the big hotspot today. firefighters scrambling to control the blaze out there. yesterday it was here in carlsbad. this building right here was completely engulfed in flames. but today the blaze out here, 60% contained. that's the good news. the bad news, we're seeing homeowners out here come back to see what's left of this wreckage. i want to introduce you to sophie payne here because this is her house. sophie, i know yesterday you came back at night. you saw what's left of your house. tell me what went through your mind. >> what went through my mind is all the good belongings that we
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did, our beautiful home is all gone. next-door neighbor's is all gone. ours is all gone. there was singeing down below us. we couldn't get in here till 5:30 last night, and then we had to double around trying to get in. and what went through my mind is finding rocky the dog for bronson because we wanted to find the dog. they jumped over the fence and went all down the line and bob shouted, "rocky, rocky, where are you?" >> reporter: you found your dog. that's the good news. >> he was all singed in the back. it was so sad. he was dehydrated and everything else, but the go ahead news wod he's okay. >> reporter: i know that's your family back here going through your house. you're trying to salvage anything. show me what you have in your hand. >> these are all the letters except the five, it was just all singed. and my daughter says mom, as long as you got the five, that's
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okay. we'll get it all sorted out sooner or later. at least we were all okay. and i thought, well, yeah. you're right. so that was it. that's all we have. and all -- my beautiful clothes and everything else are all gone. everything's gone. >> reporter: and just last week, really just a few days ago, this house was intact, and you hosted a wedding reception for your daughter. >> yeah, my daughter and my son-in-law, yeah. we had the party over there. we had the mexican food and the gate was open to everybody and everything. there was about 50-odd people here. and it was beautiful. it was absolutely beautiful. and nobody wanted to go home. you know. and now it's all gone. and it's like oh, my goodness. >> reporter: i'm just glad that your family is okay. thank you for sharing your story with us. >> thank you very much. >> reporter: wolf, you can see, this is just one of many stories that we're hearing out here in san diego county. we're still seeing some of the flames kick up even in this debris. but crews just trying to put out the hotspots. the focus right now to the east of us in san marcos.
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this family will be digging out all for the rest of the day, trying to salvage whatever they can in this debris. >> yeah, other families just like that. akiko, thanks very much for that report. our hearts go out to those families who have suffered already and presumably more will be suffering. let's check in with our meteorologist, jennifer gray. she's monitoring the situation from her post at the cnn severe weather center. jennifer, triple-digit heat, 100 degrees in some places in the l.a./san diego area today. very strong, dry santa ana winds. what's the outlook? >> yeah, we have had temperatures 20 and even 30 degrees above normal. it is still going to be hot today. but as you look forward to the next two or three days, temperatures do calm down. we'll still be running about 10 degrees above normal. but temperatures will come down into the 70s and low 80s. that will give those firefighters a little bit of relief. you're right, we've had those very strong offshore santa ana winds. 50 and 60 miles per hour in the foothills and the mountains during the past 24 hours.
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those will start to relax a little bit. we'll actually start to get more of an on-shore flow. and what that does, wolf, is it brings in a little bit more humidity. it brings in a little bit more moisture. and so that is going to help those firefighters as well. winds are dying down slowly but surely. we'll start to see those winds die down this afternoon into tomorrow, wolf. things should get much, much better. but this is unprecedented. it is going to take much more than a couple of days of rain to start to reverse this, unfortunately. >> it's going to get to 100 degrees in lmplgts .a. today, i right? >> some areas outside l.a. could see triple-digit temperatures, but those should start to come down by tomorrow. >> jennifer gray reporting. we'll check back with you. other news we're following including bill and hillary clinton. they're back in the spotlight in a big way. you'll hear why their words and actions are fueling lots of speculation about 2016. plus, anger over a deadly
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mine accident spilling into the streets of turkey. we're going to go there live. stay with us.
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someone whose poor performance is slowing down the entire organization. i'm looking at you phone company dsl. check your speed. see how fast your internet can be. switch now and add voice and tv for $34.90. comcast business built for business. turkey's president is vowing to fully investigate a deadly mine fire in the town of soma. an accident that's triggering outrage across that country. for the second straight day, thousands of people are taking to the streets. they're powe terotesting the def at least 282 mine workers. riot police are responding with water cannons, tear gas, flames ripped through the soma coal mine after a power transformer blew up on tuesday. 88 people were rescued, but as many as 120 others are still believed to be trapped inside.
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our hala gorani is joining us now from outside that mine. hala, is there any hope at all that there will be more survivors? >> reporter: wolf, miners themselves are saying really there is very little hope at this stage. that 48 hours into this disaster, that there is almost no way anyone could survive, even with a gas mask. if you had a gas mask, perhaps 45 minutes to one hour. and one of the issues here and what has become the worst mining disaster in this country's history is that people are complaining that the government did not do enough to implement safeguards to make the mines safe for those people who work underground in case of an accident or a fire such as the one that devastated the mine right here behind me. wolf, interestingly in the last several hours, we did not see anybody pulled out of the mine. we did yesterday. dozens of people, many of whom were dead, sadly, were pulled out. but right now what we're seeing
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is we're seeing ambulances lined up in a row with their lights flashing and a cluster of miners. in fact, some of the rescue workers are ordinary miners. they're gathering at the opening of the shaft. so the expectation is perhaps that we will see some of those miners, not alive, that is not the expectation, being pulled out in the coming hours, wolf. >> hala, as you know, so many people in turkey, they are infuriated as how the country's prime minister responded to this mine disaster. tell us about that. >> reporter: yeah. well, he essentially said, look, mining is a risky business. deal with it. that's how people heard what the prime minister, erdogan, had to say. he even went back to mining disasters of the 19th century and industrial revolution britain, for instance. they are saying not only did he not do everything he could as the prime minister of this country to make sure that rules were in place to ensure the safety of miners, but he's also unfeeling and callous. so this is a country divided
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with a big chunk of the population against the prime minister and his government, saying, you know, are you kidding? is this all you have to say? almost 300 people died in this mine, perhaps dozens more are still trapped, believed dead. and then adding insult to injury, a photo that sparked outrage online, wolf, of a man in full suit and tie apparently kicking a protester pinned to the ground. it emerged later that that man was an aide to the prime minister. he acknowledged himself to be a turk. he promised an explanation. we have had no explanation so far today. >> so so far prime minister erdogan has not apologized. he has not gone on television to try to fix this disaster. has he said anything since then? >> reporter: no, we haven't heard anything from him. however, the president came to the mine site today. just below here. the area was cleared, though.
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interestingly, wolf, yesterday you'll remember there were many relatives wailing, mothers, wives and sisters of the men trapped below. today we saw basically a sprinkle of relatives and friends waiting. and what they told us was that they believed that some of those relatives were held far away, were prevented from entering this mine zone that only journalists were allowed in and officials and rescue workers. so that the visit of president would go a bit more smoothly than that of the prime minister who was heckled and booed yesterday when he drove out of the mine site, wolf. >> that's understandable. all right, hala gorani on the scene for us, thank you, hala. thanks very much. there's growing concern today over the deadly mers virus. the second case has now been confirmed in the netherlands. the first case was discovered there yesterday. nearly 600 people worldwide have now contracted the disease. according to the world health organization. while officials say mers is not yet a global health emergency, it is new. it is rare.
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it kills one out of every three people who get it. two cases have been confirmed in the united states. one in florida. another in indiana. both health care workers had recently returned to the united states from saudi arabia. so why are some veterans dying before they can get medical care? the veterans affairs secretary facing tough questions up on capitol hill. we'll talk with one of the senators involved in today's hearing. stand by. also, more fallout from karl rove's controversial comments about hillary clinton's health. you're going to hear why one top democrat now thinks rove factually be helping hillary clinton in the long run.
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rather controversial comment that the republican strategist, carl rove, made about hillary clinton still continuing to generate lots of debate, lots of speculation at the same time about the motive behind it. rove raised lots of eyebrows when he suggested last week that a concussion secretary clinton suffered at the end of 2012 may have left her somewhat brain damaged. the house minority leader, nancy pelosi, gave me her opinion about why rove said what he said. listen to this. >> i think that hillary's strength, her popularity, the prestige she enjoys has driven the republicans to their wit's end. that's what i think. i think what he said is -- is just -- only makes her stronger. >> let's bring in our chief political analyst, gloria borger, our chief congressional
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correspondent, dana bash. i want to point out eric shinseki may be coming to the microphone shortly outside of this committee hearing up on capitol hill, the secretary of veterans affairs. if he speaks to reporters, we'll go there live. i just wanted to alert you in case i interrupt brilliant thoughts. that's why i'd be doing that. so hillary clinton, the karl rove -- this whole uproar that has been generated, gloria, has it helped or hurt hillary's potential 2016 prospects? >> actually, i don't think it affects it one way or another. in the short term, republicans are kind of separating themselves from karl rove on this because they don't want to be seen as saying she's got some kind of sustained brain damage, right? but, you know, it does set a narrative which is that the questions about her health, about her age. and you know, we do these things in campaigns. people just throw stuff out there like harry reid, you'll recall, mitt romney didn't pay his taxes. john kerry was an elitist and on and on.
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you throw it out there, gets in the ether, and so you know it's going to come back if she runs. >> right, becomes the zeitgeist. i talked to a hillary person who said oh, i think i'm going to send karl rove flowers. obviously not because of the content of what he said, but the way he said it and the fact that he is the one who made these comments because now, particularly because of the way that clinton operation works, every single time somebody brings up questions about her health, about her age, it's going to be pulling a karl rove. and it's going to be hard for either the opponent or maybe the reporter to get past that and separate what he said from questions that hillary clinton, if she runs, should have, that every single candidate for president. democrat or republican have had in the past and will have. and i think republicans in general that i talked to who are going to be potentially running against her say that there's, you know, fair questions and they're not wrong. >> maybe if the republicans wanted to raise this issue, they should have had some neurologist raise questions as opposed to
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karl rove. >> dr. rove? >> neurologist. let's take a look at another issue, benghazi. that's clearly going to be on the republican agenda with hillary clinton as secretary of state asleep at the switch when that crisis developed. here's her husband, bill clinton, speaking on this sensitive issue here in washington. >> they looked into what was wrong. they gave 29 recommendations. she took them and started implementing them. and they established the fact that whether it was right or wrong in the past, secretaries of state never were involved directly in these security decisions. >> so dana, he's defending the secretary's record. she did create this excision that investigated, that came up with recommendations, all of which have now been implemented. but that's not good enough for a lot of the critics up on the hill. >> oh, absolutely not. you know, there's a divide about whether amongst republicans about whether or not the decision to have this select committee on benghazi is about the near term, the midterm
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elections or really about getting hillary clinton. but with regard to hillary clint clinton, what i find fascinating is that some pretty senior democrats who i talked to on capitol hill who are arguing behind the scenes not to participate at all, they haven't made a decision yet. they say part of it is to help hillary because hillary clinton, because they feel that, you know, she's a big girl. she can handle republicans coming at her on her own. and even the optics of her sitting there, defending herself, they think that she'll be able to do it pretty well with seven republicans will be beneficial to her politically, never mind, you know, what it means. those are the democrats arguing not to participate at all. and again, that's still an open question. they're on recess this week. >> nancy pelosi told me yesterday she hasn't decided. she wants to meet with the speaker. she's going to go on a book tour, hillary, early next month. she's going to start selling her new memoir, her four years at the state department. she's going to have to answer a lot of reporters' questions in the course of that book tour. >> she is going to have to answer a lot of reporters'
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questions. but tonight, wolf, she is going to do a fund-raiser for a congressional district in pennsylvania for marjorie margolies. and it's not just a political event. it's really a personal event because chelsea is married to marjorie margolies' son. and so the big question in this race has been how much do you use the clintons? have you used them too much? do you use them too little? take a look at what margegy margolies told me. >> we always knew that if they came in too much, we would be blamed for their coming in too much. if they didn't come in enough, people would say they didn't come in enough. you're kind of damned if you do and damned if you don't. >> but tonight, hillary clinton will be raising an awful lot of money for her. bill clinton has done it as well. she's used the clintons in an ad in the district. she's in a tight four-way primary. it's going to be a squeaker.
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this is a seat she lost 20 years ago when she cast a vote to give bill clinton his economic plan. a little bit of redemption. >> and there are a lot of democrats running for the house. never mind will she or won't she. who kind of wish the clintons had more than one child, they could get their kid married so that would entice the clintons to come campaign especially hillary because there's frustration. >> i remember marjorie margolies when she was a reporter here at a local tv station in washington before she became a congresswoman and then a former congresswoman. and now the in-laws. >> and you can see some of those shots of her and the old days, margegy margolies with the clintons on erin burnett tonight. >> you just posted a report, cnn.com. >> i did. >> i just retweeted your tweet. >> as did i. >> all right. everybody's tweeting. >> i've died and gone to heaven. >> go ahead, read gloria's excellent, excellent piece. guys, thanks very much.
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still ahead, the events of 9/11 are now memorialized in a new museum at ground zero. we're going to speak to the new york city fire commissioner at the time about his experience touring these new exhibits. but up next, the secretary of veterans affairs under fire over the v.a. hospital scandal. we expect to hear from him any minute now. that hearing has just wrapped up. he's going to go to the microphones. we'll also speak live with senator richard blumenthal of connecticut. he's a member of the veterans affairs committee. nineteen years ago, we thought, "wow, how is there no way to tell the good from the bad?" so we gave people the power of the review. and now angie's list is revolutionizing local service again. you can easily buy and schedule services from top-rated providers.
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the nation's veterans deserve better. that's the message from senators about the scandal over veterans, some of whom died while waiting for medical care. a cnn investigation first exposed those problems especially in phoenix at the veterans hospital there. today the veterans affairs secretary, eric shinseki, was grilled by a senate panel. shinseki says he takes responsibility, but he also says he does not plan to resign. >> this is not a job. i'm here to accomplish a mission that i think they critically deserve and need. and i can tell you over the past five years, we've done a lot to make things better. we're not done yet. and i intend to continue this mission until i have satisfied either that goal or i'm told by
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the commander in chief that my time has been served. >> democratic senator richard blumenthal of connecticut is a member of the veterans affairs committee, certainly participated in today's hearing. he's joining us now from capitol hill. senator, thanks very much for joining us. you asked some tough questions. so did your colleagues. did you get the answers you needed? >> not yet, wolf. i think that we're all awaiting more answers about the details and extent of the wrongdoing here. clearly there has been misconduct and impopriety. my question to secretary shinseki is don't we need more resources and potential investigation by an agency that has criminal jurisdiction and expertise, which is the fbi and the department of justice? and i strongly suggested to him that the fbi should be asked to consider an investigation because we have evidence of false statements, falsification of documents, destruction of
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those documents and other obstruction of justice that constitutes a crime. and the inspector general really has no -- lacks sufficient resource to conduct a prompt criminal investigation. >> what did he say to you? >> well, he's going to, i think, consider it. i hope he will. and i will call on the attorney general of the united states to take such action if secretary shinseki thinks it's inappropriate at this time. but also, there's a need for a new team, a new management team which a number of us feel is warranted to ensure greater accountability and transparency. i think we're at a turning point for this agency. there have been complaints over years about some of these practices that involve, in effect, lists, cooking the books, falsification of records, and now is the time to break with the past with a new management team that will insist on accountability and
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transparen transparency. the veterans of america deserve nothing less than the best medical care. and they put themselves at risk. they should not be put at risk by a health care system that's failing. >> so does the new management team require a new secretary? >> if general shinseki undertakes to, in effect, clean house, impose accountability, i would permit him to continue. and as he said, i think he's determined to get to the bottom of all of what's been done wrong. but the jury is still out. >> as you know, the president has asked his deputy chief of staff at the white house, rob nabors, deal with this crisis. that doesn't sound like a strong vote of confidence by top people over at the white house. >> whether it's a vote of confidence or not, clearly the issue is more than one person. although obviously the focus, as
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typically it is, centers on general shinseki, and he is the one who's taken responsibility. but the appointment of rob nabors is a welcome step but only a first step toward presidential intervention, a new day, an inflection point or turning point for this agency. and obviously, we're learning much more at this point from many of the news media including most prominently cnn, thank you for your great work on this issue because i think that the veterans of america have long complained to us, as elected officials. i hear from connecticut veterans all the time about the wait for medical care, lack of access, lack of timely consults and other kind of treatment. so now we've got to really devote the resource. that's the long-term challenge, the resources, dollars that keep faith with our veterans and make sure that we leave no veteran behind. >> senator blumenthal, thanks very much for joining us.
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>> thank you. and we're waiting to hear from secretary shinseki. supposed to be coming to the microphones shortly. once he does, we'll hear what he has to say to reporters. presumably he'll be asked questions at the same time. other news we're following including unease in syria. the war-torn country slowly trying to get back on its feet. now a massive explosion shakes a major government military base. plus, the growing global effort to bring several hundred nigerian schoolgirls back home. we're going to see how the u.s. is now trying to lend a hand. ugh. heartburn. did someone say burn? try alka seltzer reliefchews. they work just as fast and are proven to taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. mmm. amazing. yeah, i get that a lot. alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief. disturbing the pantry. ortho crime files. a house, under siege. say helto home defense max. kills bugs inside and prevents new ones for up to a year.
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killing teachers, anyone who stands in its way. our vladimir dutier joins us from the nigerian capital. vlad, this is a heartbreaking situation. it's been a month now. they're seeing these pictures of their daughters on this videotape that was released. how are the families holding up? i know you've had a chance to speak with some of them. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. as you can imagine, the families have been in agony over the past couple of weeks, waiting for some proof of life, some sign that their daughters were alive and well. and it came in that video that was released by supposedly the leader of boko haram. and in it, wolf, he makes a really interesting proposition. he offers to trade the girls for what he calls his brothers that are in nigerian prisons. now, today the uk minister for african affairs said to the press that he had spoken to president goodluck jonathan of nigeria and was rejecting the offer but that he was open to
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dialogue. as you know, wolf, that's a tough situation for any world leader. you've got 200 children essentially being held by a terrorist group. they're offering to exchange them for other terrorists that are in prisons. what do you do? we know the united states will be helping out with this. they do have hostage negotiators not far from where we are here at the united states embassy, but a very tough catch-22 for the president, wolf. >> it's very tough indeed. we'll stay on top of the story together with you, vlad. thanks very much for your excellent reporting for many girls around the world just getting an education is a major challenge. if you'd like to find out more about how you can help, go to cnn.com/impact. you'll have a chance to impact your world. coming up after the break, a ladder truck number 3 is now one of the powerful focal points inside the new 9/11 memorial museum in new york city. the former fire commissioner is standing by to join us live to talk about his memories of that day, the firefighters who gave their lives. avo: waves don't care what age you are.
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-- terror can match the strength or the character of our country. like the great wall and bedrock that embrace us today, nothing
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can ever break us. nothing can change who we are as americans. >> president obama speaking this morning at the dedication ceremony for the new 9/11 museum at ground zero? lower manhattan. tom van essen was the commissioner of the new york fire department on that fateful day as he toured the exhibit, the smashed remains of ladder truck 3, brought back powerful memories and emotions in an op-ed in the "new york post," i writes this. i immediately thought of pat brown who lost all the men on his day and night tour that day. what a leader was, paddy brown, he was a teacher, a motivator. men who weren't even scheduled to work that day would follow him into that burning tower. they would follow him. they would follow him anywhere. now he and all his men were gone. tom von essen is joining us now from new york. commissioner, thanks very much for sharing some thoughts on
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this gut-wrenching moment for you, especially. how difficult was it for you to visit this memorial and museum? >> well, i've been through it a couple of times. they asked my input along the way. so i had a sense of how difficult it was going to be. it's just a very emotional place to go when you have that gave their lives that day. innocent people, innocent victims. others who sacrificed their life for strangers. they gave it all for people they didn't even know. >> was there one exhibit that particularly struck you? >> you know, there's so many pieces of the fire department everywhere. clothing showed. showed how bunker gear preserved remains better than regular
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clothing. made it a little easier to find our guys but still some unidentified. some of the guys who were there were not working, they just jumped on a truck and went there. 11 guys instead of five so now you don't have enough masks and radios but you have got a leader who these men would follow anywhere. >> you remember them even as we speak right now vividly. >> not a day goes by that i don't walk down the street that
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i don't see somebody that reminds me of someone. not even for each other but total strangers. people described how they were running down the stairs trying to get to safety and watching how the firefighters and police officers and the nypd going up trying to do what they could as much as they could even knowing when the other building had collapsed, knowing that there were an awful lot of injured and trapped people. we couldn't help the people above the fire. in door ways that have been twisted and report.
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so, they really needed help and we were able to get thousands of them out of there. >> as you know there has been some controversy about one of the displays responsible for this disaster. you think it was important to include that exhibit, that part of this memorial museum, right? >> i do. this is not trained military personnel. this is innocent mothers and fathers going to work with kids waiting for them at home. this is firefighters, police officers just trying to help others, total strangers. these were innocent people that were killed that day. i am glad that they singled out the murderers. it's about crazy people who like you described before, don't want
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women to have rights. >> well said. the former new york city fire commissioner. >> we will take a quick break and be right back.
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>> a massive explosion rocks a major government military base in syria. it came from a bomb planted inside a tunnel into the base of the tunnel, was dug by rebels. cnn has not confirmed the authenticity of this video.
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take a look at this exclusive report. >> this is what the battle for homes looked like for a very long time. now that the fight is over and the opposition fighters have left, the army is discovering their supply routes. the tunnels were very important for them the soldier tells me. this is how they got weapons and ammunition in here. >> this isn't one of the most sophisticated tunnels around he here. it's not high or well constructed but the rebels used tenls like this one in the end phase of the siege. they would use them to get
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resupplied. the army showed us what it says is a rebel weapons factory. >> the soldier says we found a lot more but most have been taken out of the building. more and more civilians are coming back to the district. >> so many people came here that are not from this area. they just load their bikes full of stuff and leave. you can see them everywhere.
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it is impossible to control all of those walking the streets of this former battleground. newsroom starts right now. >> thank you, here we go. he is mad as hell. >> potential cover ups and administrators gaming the system. not mad enough, apparently, though, to raise some hell himself