hasten hasen ro sanny has signaled a new iran. amid the current negotiations with world powers. the arrests of young iranians for simply making a music video about happiness is a potential blow to that goodwill campaign. reza saya, cnn. >> so much for being happy. wolf starts right now. right now, president obama calls alleged behavior by veterans hospitals dishonorable and disgraceful but he says he won't pubic anyone until he has more information. here's the question. is the president doing enough? also right now, tuesday's primary results look like a big win for mainstream republicans. we're digging deeper into what it means for the tea party, what it means for democrats in november.

right now, prince charles is in some serious hot water after reportedly comparing vladimir putin to adolf hitler. his comments are reviving a longtime argument about whether royals should only be seen and not heard. hello, i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. we begin here in washington where president obama says today -- he says today he will allow veteran secretary shinseki to stay in his job at least for now. the retired u.s. army general has been under intense pressure to resign over disturbing rempl lations that some va facilities may have compiled secret patient wait lists. some of those patients died while waiting for care. the white house says it first learned of the allegations from cnn's reporting last month, but is still trying to gather all the facts.

>> i know that people are angry and want scriwift reckoning. we have to let the investigators do their job and get to the bottom of what happened. our veterans deserb to know the facts. once we know the facts, i assure you, if there is misconduct, it will be punished. >> our senior investigative correspondent drew griffin broke the story for us. he's joining us now live from phoenix. that's where the scandal first erupted. were you surprised the president allowed secretary shinseki to stay at the job? >> i think -- i'm getting messages from many veterans groups who were surprised. the fact that the president said this was near and dear to his heart, a cause he takes seriously, that he won't stand for the mistreenlt of our veterans seeking health care, yet the person who has been in the job trying to fix that and hasn't is going to be allowed to

remain in the job going forward to try to fix it. the american legion, again called for shinseki's resignation in a statement. basically they are saying the question is this, if the administration has known about these issues for at least four years, why is it just now taking action? that is from the american legion president. so it's surprising that the president still has faith that eric shinseki, who has been in office since 2009, has known about these problems since at least 2009, if not before, is the person who the president believes is going to lead the va out of this crisis. >> we'll see what the president decides to do. after he gets this inspector general report that he's ordered. we also learned, drew, that the director of the phoenix va hospital received an $8,500 bonus last month, just as the scandal came to light. shep was placed on leave. according to the va policy,

shinseki most likely had to approve that bonus. i don't know if you know whether he personally approved it, but what is the va, department of veterans affairs, doing to say they justified that bonus? >> they haven't just fewed -- they haven't responded to our questions about the source or where that bonus came from. keep in mind, this bonus was sent to the director of the phoenix va. at the very same time there was an open inspector general's investigation into her management at the va. congressman miller who heads the house veterans affairs committee was given an explanation from the va that we've not been able to verify but according to congressman miller, he was told this was some kind of a low level clerk who did this why accident. that is the explanation that congress is getting for this -- i believe it's $8,493 bonus that was sent to sharon hillman at the very time she was being investigated here in phoenix. >> yeah, that's not a good move,

clearly. drew, thanks for your excellent reporting. drew give griff be in phoenix for us. democratic senator bloomen all this serves on the committee. thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. >> do you believe the president is right to allow secretary shinseki to stay on the job at least for now, or should he ask -- should he have asked for his resignation? >> ultimately, the president is accountable, and needs to take stronger steps, and those steps need to include a new management team. whether or not secretary shinseki stays, there is a need for house cleaning. to impose accountability. this bureaucracy has been insular and isolated for too long. many of us have complained about the lack of sufficient record keeping in the past. there has to be a new era and a new day there. i've also called for the

involvement of the fbi in this investigation, if there is credible evidence of criminal wrongdoing, as there seems to be now. the fbi ought to be involved. and the director of the fbi told me this morning and the testimony he offered at the judiciary committee that if there is falsification of records, destruction of documents, there's more than ample predicate for the fbi to be involved in the criminal investigation. >> because that clearly could be criminal. did you get a commitment from the director of the fbi that they would launch a criminal investigation into these allegations? i ask you the question because you speak not only as the united states senator but a former attorney general in the state of connecticut. >> as a former federal prosecutor, i can tell you right now, my belief is that the allegations of criminal wrongdoing, which include falsification of records, manipulation of documents, obstruction and possibly obfuscation in connection with

this investigation are pretty incredible allegations that deserve criminal investigation. now, he said to me that he would be invoflved if he was asked by the inspector general. the inspector general ought to ask for the involvement of the fbi before he concludes his investigation, which is now scheduled for some time in august. before he completes his report, he wouldn't jump to conclusions or rush to judgment, but the fbi as a credible source of investigative authority ought to be involved before completion of that report if there's evidence right now. >> well, there clearly is some evidence. if i were an investigator, i'd be concerned about tampering with that evidence between now and the end of the summer, let's say, because documents could disappear. e-mails could disappear. if there's going to be an investigation, the time is now to start it, i assume. >> the evidence produced by cnn and other news sources, very credible and compelling

evidence, indicates that a criminal investigation would be appropriate. that judgment has to be made by the inspector general or by the attorney general of the united stat states, and i will be in touch with both to ask them what evidence they have and whether or not this kind of investigation is appropriate. i believe it is. >> all right. let me read to you -- drew mentioned in his report at least part of the statement just released by the american legion national commander daniel dellinger. if the administration has known about these issues for at least four years, why is it just now taking action? moreover, the president's decision to keep secretary shinseki at his post is an unfortunate one. the va has been aware for some time that inappropriate scheduling procedures are wide spread among its medical facilities, yet secretary shinseki has taken no initiative. veterans continue to die waiting for health care. senior va executives continue to

get their bonuses. only after all of this is the secretary now pledging to fix what's wrong. this is the commander of the american legion. the american legion clearly, as you well know, highly respected in these kinds of matters. >> as a member of the american legion, certainly have great respect for mr. dellinger's opinion. i think we need to have new management, fresh faces and voices at the va. there have been reports of this kind of problem for some time. and that's the reason that there has to be a house cleaning at the va. whether secretary shinseki stays, it's not about him alone. it's about the entire management structure that has been isolated from accountability for too long. part of the accountability has to be the criminal investigation. but it also has to be a real new teem team that will impose the

kind of accountability that's necessary and give veterans, 6 1/2 million of them, this kind of health care, the kind of first-class, state of the art treatment they deserve. medical care delayed all too often is medical care denied. because it can result in the kind of fatalities and other kinds of problems that have been documented. >> doesn't sound to me -- correct me if i'm wrong, as if you still have a lot of confidence in secretary shinseki. >> i'm going to ask and continue to pose tough questions to secretary shinseki. i think he's going to have to provide answers. not only to the congress but to the american people most especially to the heroes, the veterans of the united states. 6 1/2 million of them that depend on these va facilities for health care they need and deserb. wolf, looking forward, general

shinseki has told me that 1 million americans will separate from the military in the next five years. that's the biggest number of active duty military to come out of the military in any time since the vietnam war. and that's going to be a challenge in and of itself. so these kinds of issues are only going to grow and become more serious in the years ahead. the va has to fix this problem now. >> senator blumenthal, thanks very much for joining us. stay with us for more on the fallout from cnn's reporting on the va delays at the half hour, the "cross fire" co-hosts are standing by to join me live. we'll get their take on secretary shinseki's future. up next, reading the political tea leaves. the tea party comes up short against the republican establishment so what does it mean for the midterm elections in november? gloria borger standing by live.

she's going to discuss with me. and the russian president vladimir putin says his troops are moving away drop the ukrainian border. the united states begs to differ. there's new information though coming in right now. barbara starr standing by at the pentagon. humans. even when we cross our "ts" and dot our "i's", we still run into problems. that's why liberty mutual insurance offers accident forgiveness with our auto policies. if you qualify, your rates won't go up due to your first accident. because making mistakes is only human, and so are we. we also offer new car replacement, so if you total your new car, we'll give you the money for a new one. call liberty mutual insurance at... and ask us all about our auto features, like guaranteed repairs, where if you get into an accident and use one of our certified repair shops, the repairs are guaranteed for life. so call...

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trying to read all the tea leaves after the primary elections, after the tea party came up short. we're taking a closer look at what this means for the midterm elections in november. first, the closer look at one of the most watched races, in kentucky. the senate minority leader mitch mcconnell coasted to an easy win over matt bevin.

he's already taking aim at his democratic challenger, linking her to president obama. >> kentuckians are not going to be deceived. alison grimes is barack obama's candidate. they know it. >> alison grimes was quick to fire back. she told reporters last night she's an independent thinker, and she says the race is not about the president. >> president obama is not on kentucky's 2014 election ballot. nothing about this election will change who is in the white house, but we can change who is in washington, d.c. and finally put someone for the commonwealth of kentucky. >> in other races, establishment candidates also defeated tea partybacked challengers in idaho

and in georgia. you can call it the establishment strikes back. but what do the primary results mean for the upcoming midterm elections in november? our chief political analyst gloria borger is here to discuss what knomeans. what does it mean? >> first of all, what it means is in a primary in which you're looking for your base voters, which enmoos usually in the republican party your more conservative voters. it was easy for the establishment in a way, they were smart about this, to co-opt a lot of the tea party issues, adopt them. the key one, repealing obamacare, which they all agree on. second, you know, don't raise taxes. immigration, trade. so what you saw here was some of the most strident tea party candidates getting defeated because the establishment candidates who are used to campaigning and had a lot financial backing actually sounded a lot like tea party candidates. so they were appealing to some of those most conservative voters in the base of the

republican party. so it was a clever strategy, chamber of commerce spent over $4 million just yesterday. so it worked. >> the widespread asumming is the republicans will stay the majority in the house of representatives. the key prize in november, will they be able to get a net gain of six senate seats and then become the majority in the senate? the results yesterday, does that bode well for a takeover of the senate or not so well? >> i think if you were the grand puba looking at the map here for politics, you'd have to say republicans feel good about what happened yesterday. a, they got mitch mcconnell to go against alison grimings. he's a tough campaigner. he was out there, fighting his heart out. he's going to fight to the finish. so they'd rather have him, even though -- and that race, by the way, could cost $100 million. just think about that.

but they're happy because they want him to be leader. secondly, you look in georgia. you've got a runoff in georgia. but it's not for that senate seat. but it's not a runoff between an establishment and tea party candidate. it's between two establishment candidates. if either of those candidates wins, the party believes that either one of them would be pretty electable. i think if you're looking at the lay of the land, you're saying, you know, we're not going to let -- republicans are saying in 2010 and 2012, they believe they lost about six senate seats because they nominated the wrong candidates who were tea party backed. they are now pretty sanguine and say, you know, we're not letting that happen this time around, we've learned our lesson. >> they don't want christine o'donnell in delaware for example to be the republican nominee because, you know, she's the one who made that famous comment, i'm not a witch, and that obviously did not go over well in delaware. let's talk a little bit about pennsylvania. marjorie margolies. she's chelsea clinton's

mother-in-law, former congresswoman, she wanted to become a congresswoman again. bill clinton, hillary clinton, they campaigned for her. bill clinton was doing robo calls for her yesterday. didn't exactly work out all that well. >> didn't have the pixy dust she quite wanted. she is somebody who lost her seat. a lot of personal history. lot her seat 20 years ago when she voted for bill clinton's economic plan. she was trying to make a comeback 20 years later. now the clintons are in-laws, her son married chelsea clinton. the clintons were willing to help to a limited degree. raising some money. they weren't out there every day on the campaign trail. but bill clinton really did those robo calls. >> does it say there's less power for the clintons? >> i think what it really says is that when you've been out of politics for 20 years, you're a little bit rusty. you have to show up more on the campaign trail. the person would beat her is a current legislator with a lot of union support and i think even

the clintons couldn't do it for her. does it take some luster off? maybe, but not in the long term. >> that democrat who did win probably will be the congressman because that district was redistricted. >> which is why she was running again, because she sort thought it was a no brainer, but it wasn't. >> gloria, thanks so much. still ahead, vladimir putin says troops are pulling back, but they appear to be moving slowly away from ukraine's border. and later, donald sterling, accused of trying to bury his racist remarks. the nba says he asked a key witness in the case to lie, to destroy evidence. we're taking a closer look. ameriprise asked people a simple question: in retirement, will you outlive your money? uhhh. no, that can't happen. that's the thing, you don't know how long it has to last. everyone has retirement questions. so ameriprise created the exclusive..

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the group responsible for the nigeria schoolgirl kid mans is stepping up its violence. today, asking to designate boko haram a terrorist organization. the back-to-back explosions went off about 20 to 30 minutes apart. nigerian authorities describe the blast as terrorist activities but declined to speculate on who might be responsible. besides the attacks, at least 30 people were killed by boko haram in borno state as well. up on capitol hill here in washington, lawmakers heard from a 15-year-old survivor of earlier attacks by the terrorist group. debra peter is originally from the village where the more than

200 schoolgirls were kidnapped, almost 300 in total. she told her story ahead of a house foreign affairs committee hearing on boko haram. >> they may be backing up but there's no sign they're moving. we're talking about the tens of thousands of russian troops along ukraine's border. the russian president, vladimir putin, reportedly orders the forces back to their bases on monday. there was at least early on no indication that was actually happening. our pentagon correspondent barbara starr's got new information. what are you learning, barbara? >> wolf, u.s. intelligence is poring over satellite imagery right now. they are beginning to see some very interesting initial preliminary signs. what a u.s. defense official tells me is they've seen some indications russian forces are beginning to pack up their gear in some locations. this could, could be the beginning of some movement off the border. but here's why they can't be

definitive. right now, all they're seeing is packing up. the russian forces aren't moving yet. what they've seen over the last several months is the russians rotate troops in and out. some leave, more come in. they rotate around. they move around. but it's been left with about 40,000 troops from the russian -- russian troops on the border very consistently. so the question now, is this latest packing up the first sign that they're actually going to reduce the number of forces on the border and move them back to their home bases. wolf. >> it would be very encouraging if they did, especially coming only days before the scheduled elections in ukraine. they'll be several thousand international observers, including a lot of high-ranking americans, going into ukraine this weekend to watch those elections. if, in fact, the elections are doing watt u.s. and so many others are asking them to do, that would be an encouraging step and could head off further u.s.-led sanctions.

>> well, it might, but the u.s. has been very adamant that it wants to see all 40,000 russian troops get out of that border region and go back. but what would that really change the situation on the ground in ukraine. there are a number of russian special forces, provoker tos the state department has called them, that russia has moved into ukraine to basically stir up the unrest in that eastern sector. and that's why the election is going to be so carefully watched over the weekend. will these pro-russian forces already inside ukraine, not regular russian military but special forces, agents of the russian regime, will they stir up more trouble? one of the people there will be our very own jim sciutto. watch for his reports over the weekend as he arrives and ginds to file the news from what is happening in that very volatile region. wolf. >> good point, barbara, thanks very much. hillary clinton caught some heat

earlier this year after comparing the actions of vladimir putin to those of adolf hitler. now a member of the british royal family has reportedly made a very similar comment. details coming up. up next, president obama and the va scandal, did he miss the mark with his comments today, or did he do well? i'll ask the "cross fire" co-hosts, they're both standing by live.

as you heard earlier, president obama talked about allegations against the veterans administrations. specifically extreme wait times for some veterans trying to get care. in his remarks, the president said if the allegations are true, he will not tolerate it. he also said any evidence of misconduct will be punished. let's bring in two of the hosts of cnn's "cross fire," van jones, and former house speaker newt beginnigingrich. the president is holding out hope shinseki can get the job done. do you have confidence? >> no, i think it's almost silly it obama himself campaigned on the veteran scandals in 2008. shinseki's had five years to fix it. we have an interactive map at gingrich productions that has 34 different sites, most of them based, by the way, on cnn investigations. all over the country, there are problems. they need -- they both need a new leader but they also need really big systems changes, which means congress is going to

have to do its share to really change the law. i mean, there's some really destructive regulations. >> the president's keeping shinseki on the job. every time he said that, he added the word "but" meaning he's waiting for the audit, waiting for the inspector general report. it wasn't exactly a ringing vote of confidence and what struck me also, van, you used to work in the white house, what wasn't shinseki standing next to the president? why wasn't robin neighbors, his deputy chief of staff, appointed to help deal with this, why weren't they standing behind him? >> are these realthetorical questions? >> no, i'm asking you. >> if i were shinseki, i would use the time during the investigation to get my resume in very good shape. that was not a ringing endorsement. he was not there. if he had been there, that would have been a certain sign. obama is doing everything he can to signal we're going through a process and this guy's going to be out of here. i think obama is shaken by this.

i think -- actually did a bunch of good stuff. the homeless crisis which was a big deal, they actually fixed that. i think because he thought of the great job he's going to get real credit for that. that's been totally swamped by this scandal. i don't think shinseki will survive. >> here's the president speaking earlier today about the secretary, general shinseki. >> rick shinseki i think serves this country because he cares deeply about veterans and he cares deeply about the mission. and i know that rick's attitude is if he does not think he can do a good job on this and if he thinks he's let our veterans down, then i'm sure he is not going to be interested in continuing to serve. >> that's at bad as it gets. he's opening the door in some ways for a resignation.

>> look at the total absence of serious presidential authority. does barack obama after five years with 34 different sites around the country a mess, does he think rick shinseki can do this? >> the argument they make is yes, maybe there are problems at 34 va hospitals. there are about 1,700 va hospital, facilities around the country. most of them not a mess. >> it is important we have a full investigation. how systemic is it? how much criminal wrongdoing there was. obviously if you have 30 that's different than 3,000. you've got to give the process a chance to go forward. if you're looking for is shinseki going to be there in six months, i think the answer is no. >> to be fair to shinseki, the problems here are systemic and much deeper. congress needs to change very dramatically the laws which

govern the va. exactly the problem the government cited in his own obamacare website where he said i couldn't do in the government what i did in the campaign. it's even truer at the va. the va has a totally obsolete system. mired down in processes that don't work. it's not enough to say, gee, they're not crook. the question is, is this the best service for our veterans, and the answer is no. >> given the drawdown in afghanistan, the drawdown of the military, there are going to be million more veterans who need this health care in the years to come. there's more to discuss. they are still with us. we're going to talk about the primaries yesterday. mitch mcconnell cruises to an easy win. is that what we're expecting when establishment republicans face off at least now a days with tea party candidates? stick around. life with crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis

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nancy pelosi, the minority leader, in the house of representatives, has just named five members of the caucus in the house of representatives to participate in the upcoming select committee investigating the benghazi terrorist attack. that killed four americans including the united states ambassador in benghazi. the five democrats named to this panel, there will be seven republicans on the select committee, five democrats, include elijah cummings, adam smift, adam shift, linda sanchez and tammy duckworth. van jones, newt gingrich are here. a tough decision pelosi had to make because there were a bunch of democrats saying just ignore though whole select committee, let the republicans do whatever they want, we're not going to participate and give it legitimacy. although other democrats said we should be involved in there to

try to keep the republicans honest. what do you make of this decision. first of all, the decision by nancy pelosi to appoint five democrats and these five names? >> she did the right thing. you can't have the house make a decision like this and then say we're not going to play. it will be very solid and they will go in this room and say let's try to get to a final unified vote. >> danger of trying to stay away. that sounds great, but then monday comes and they have a big deal. you're not even there to ask questions of what's happening. now you're on the outside. you're still participating but

from a position of complete weakness. i think it was good to drag this out a little bit, for this whole controversy. my view is this has been litigated over and over. if it's going to happen again, especially in the middle of the midterms -- >> because i had heard from a whole bunch of democrats who wanted to participate. they weren't happy they only got five. but forget about republicans are the majority in the house of representatives, they kept saying, let's assume they call hillary clinton to testify on benghazi. you just want seven republicans to ask questions? don't you want a democrat or two or five to ask some questions. so it makes sense to have democrats on the panel. >> to underscore what newt just said, elijah cummings in particular i think has been very effective. >> he's the ranking member of the darrell issa committee. >> exactly. very effective, not only in challenging some of the assertions here but also bringing in question the whole politics of this whole thing.

i remember when terrorists killed americans and americans came together. this particular thing is in real danger of becoming politicized, way beyond what i think is healthy for the country. i think at least you got somebody like elijah cummings there who is familiar with this stuff. a good statesman for the democrats on this. i think it's a good outcome. it's not just him, it's adam sherif schiff, he knows a lot about what happened. >> this is another one and this is the one, in the end, will count and bring together the initial four investigations. i think there is just part of the american process. back in watergate, the republicans participated when the democrats were in charge. during iran/contra. there's a certain part of the american system that says, look, the election's other, this is an official body of the u.s. house, both teams have to on it. i think in essence it's fine for nancy to wait a while and to negotiate. but in the end, she did exactly the right thing. i agree, these guys are very

smart. these folks have a chance to be really good participants. >> trey goddy of is being is he's going to be the chairman of this select committee, foreigner prosecutor. he, i'm sure, will be tough and these democrats i'm sure will be tough as well. later tonight, "cross fire," what's the subject? >> talking about the veterans administration and shinseki. >> we got a little preview today, is that what you're saying? >> i think so. >> we'll see you in "cross fire." up next, new details on the nba's case against donald sterling and now allegations about what he did supposedly to try to cover the tape of him making those race et comments. if it doesn't work fast... you're on to the next thing. clinically proven neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair. it targets fine lines and wrinkles with the fastest retinol formula available.

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. new information emerging in the nba's case against donald sterling. it includes that v. stiviano tried to get her to lie to nba investigators. brian todd is here and working the story for us. the allegations are very serious, not only lying, but evidence tampering. now "the l.a. times" has specific details of what was in that 30-page legal charge that the nba submitted to sterling and his lawyers. >> if that "l.a. times" report is accurate, it could damage his attempt to keep his team. the gist of it is with "the l.a. times" saying the nba charging

documents saying sterling tried to persuade v. stiviano to tell the investigators that he was not responsible for that infamous audio tapes. stiviano said on may 2nd, sterling approached her and asked her to tell nba investigators that she lied in her previous meeting with the league, to say she had altered the tape and the voice on the tape was not his. we reached out to donald sterling's new at tenney to respond to the l.a. times report about the nba's charging documents. we have not heard back at all since we first tried to reach out to him. the times quotes an associate of donald sterling claiming this is all a smear by the nba, they're throwing mud up against the wall to see what sticks. also "the l.a. times," another part of their report which cites the document suggests that donald and shelly sterling are

not estranged, they're, quote, inextricably entintertwined and worked closely together on this scandal. we just got a statement from shelly sterling's attorney, pierce o'donnell saying that's not correct. they are estranged, have been living apart for more than a year and are planning to file divorce. her attorney pushing back to that part of "the l.a. times" report. >> a pretty serious allegation in the "l.a. times" report that this 30-page nba legal document that was given to the sterlings and their lawyers contained the allegations that weeks before any of us ever heard that audiotape when it was leaked to the public, the l.a. clippers had a copy of it, they had the audio but were taking steps to get rid of it. >> the times said the team president got a copy of that audio recording on april 9th, more than two weeks before tmz posted that recording and he had

gotten it from another team employee who had gotten it in stiviano. it came from her originally but was given to andy rosen, then the team president, on april 9th. that's two weeks before any of us ever saw it. you're right. according to "the times" sterling ordered the employee to delete the recording of that from some phone that the employee had. again, we're trying to get sterling's reaction to all this. we haven't gotten a response from his attorneys. >> another element of supposed evidence tampering, if you will. >> absolutely. >> thanks very much. brian will be working the story a lot more in "the situation room" later today. talking politics is taboo for members of the british royal family. apparently prince charles didn't get the memo. he's reportedly weighing in on vladimir putin and his comments are creating a lot of controversy. you'll find out why when we come back.

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we've just been told that democratic leader in the house of representatives nancy pelosi will hold a news conference on her decision to name five democrats to the house select committee investigating the benghazi attack. the benghazi attack that killed four americans including the u.s. ambassador. she's now named those five members who will serve on this committee led by elijah cummings. russia just sealed a gas deal with the world's biggest energy customer, china. the russian president, vladimir putin signed the agreement with beijing today after a decade of negotiations. under the new contract which is believed to be worth about $400 billion, russia will supply china with natural gas for 30 years starting in 2018. it all comes at a critical time for putin who could see his

european customer base shrink over tensions in ukraine. and that discussed with moscow's actions in ukraine has caused prince charles to compare putin to hitler. matthew chance is following the story from london. >> these comments made by prince charles, the heir to the british throne were reportedly made at a veterans event the prince is attending in nova scotia. he was speaking to veterans, a holocaust survivor, someone telling her story about how she escaped poland in the 1930s to escape the nazi terror back then when he said something along the lines of this, that's something along the lines of what putin is doing. it's been leading all the newspapers here in britain. he's making this historical parallel with the horrors of nazi germany and what's taking place in russia right now under

vladimir putin. very controversial indeed, wolf. >> what's the reaction been from buckingham palace? >> the palace itself has remained tight lipped said it was a private conversation and wasn't going to comment on it. the reaction in the press and among some mps has been pretty scathing. in a constitutional monarchy, the head of state or hair to the throne is not meant to make political statements. it's always been the case that prince charles is a little outspoken, very strong views on things like architecture, genetically modified crops and not backward with coming forward about those views. this is another example of that. one mp said that the prince should refrain from what he calls his freelance foreign policy, the monarchy should be seen and not heard. >> matthew, thanks very much for that. here in the united states, wall street making strong gains today as investors wait for the

federal reserve to release minutes from the april meeting, all that happening at the top of the hour, expected to give us a clue on the thinking as far as interest rates are concerned. let's take a look right now and see where the dow jones stands. you can see it's up, up, 139 points at least for now, 16,500-plus, good numbers on wall street today, clearly encouraging. let's see what happens later this afternoon. stay in new york right now where hundreds of sailors, marines, coast guard members, airmen are kicking off fleet week, an annual tradition of u.s. sea forces. fleet week was canceled last year because of federal budget cuts. this year the event is scaled down, five ships, about 1,500 service members are participating. about one quarter of the typical year. among the ships participating, "u.s.s. cole" attacked in yemen 14 years ago.

it was rebuilt, returned to active duty back in 2002. thanks to all the men and women who are participating. thanks to all the men and women of the united states military for what they do for all of us. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching ch it's be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "the situation room." "newsroom" with brooke baldwin "newsroom" with brooke baldwin starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com don't go far. we have breaking news of cnn. after two weeks of deciding whether to boycott this new committee to investigate the house committee on benghazi, the attack that killed four americans, we now know that democrats are announcing they will participate. so you see the live pictures. any minute now we will see house democratic leader nancy pelosi step behind that podium and reveal specifically which democratic lawmakers s