people do. that's it for me, thank you so much for watching. i'll see you back here next saturday and until then have a great weekend and a wonderful week. so, one man out, but will there be more to go? the scandal that sacked the leader of the v.a. is far from over. >> if people have criminal acts, they should be punished. no ifs, buts or maybes. the embattled clippers' owner is not going down without a fight. a billion dollar fight, if that. donald sterling takes another strange turn. two women face off over a radio legend. daughter versus wife in a courtroom drama or casey kasem.

>> shame on these children. shame who have done this to their father. >> it's getting dicy. we'll tell you what's going on and, first, we want to say hello and good morning. so glad to have you with us today. i'm vi i i'm christi paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. >> start with donald sterling. >> he's suing the nba for $1 billion. embattled los angeles clipper owner says he's taking the league to court because of his decision to ban him for life and force him to give up his franchise. >> this latest twist is coming just after his wife shelly agreed to sell the team for $2 billion to steve ballmer. the most ever paid for in an nba franchise. but, did ballmer pay too much? a lot of people asking that question today. alexandra field is checking that out for us. hey. >> a lot of people thought the team would go for about half

that much. but it is worth whatever ballmer is willing to pay for it. what this really means is that the teams that are already considered more valuable than the clippers could now be much more valuable than even their owners had imagined. a $2 billion bid for a basketball team smashes records. but what steve ballmer the former microsoft mogul getting for all that money? >> a team better on the court than the los angeles lakers with a great lease at the staples center and a new upside television deal that he is about to negotiate in los angeles. >> reporter: future tv deals both local and national could bring in close to an extra $100 million a year by some estimates, which is a lot, but not the big picture. >> in the first few years, profits are going to be very minimal. this isn't something he's buying because he wants to make money. this is something that will take 10% of their net worth and

they're going to buy a sports team in l.a., which is going to give them a lot of prestige. >> reporter: for $2 billion there is plenty of prestige, a way for the wealthy to diversify investments and with a salary cap in place, nba owners can be protected from dipping into their own pockets. >> steve ballmer knows that if he runs this team somewhat prudently, he is not going to have to put any capital into the team. >> if you have $20 billion. >> not a bad thing. >> reporter: in january forbes list of nba team values ranked the clippers 13th with an estimated worth of $575 million. their potential sale price was estimated at around $1 billion once donald sterling's racist rant was revealed. >> the nba should trip over itself, get the documents done, approve this transaction and move on to other business just as fast as humanly possible. >> reporter: the $2 billion price tag could help send the values of some of the league's most valuable franchises

soaring. >> i don't think you'll be able to buy a big market nba team for les than $3 billion. >> reporter: and to put these really big numbers into perspective, last month the milwaukee bucks sold for $550 million and that was an nba record. so this bid blows that out of the water, but isn't the biggest sale in u.s. sports history. that goes to the l.a. dodgers, their sale in 2012, $2.1 billion. victor, christi? >> big numbers. alexandra field, thank you so much. the chief of veterans affairs out of a job this morning and attention turning to finding his replacement. his permanent replacement, we should point out. >> eric shinseki resigned after revelations that included deadly delays for veteran cares for those who were waiting. >> senior white house correspondent jim acosta has learned shinseki's departure was

as sudden and as swift as it looked to the rest of us. good morning, jim. >> christi and victor in a day of high drama eric shinseki was gone in 60 minutes with democrats calling for his he stepped down on his own. president obama, there was no time to wait. >> secretary shinseki offered me his own resignation with considerable regret, i accepted. >> according to white house officials, the resignation of veterans affair secretary eric shinseki was over in one hour. first he met in the oval office with the president, chief of staff dennis mcdonough and the top u.s. aide overseeing and then the president and shinseki went for a walk on the south lawn for a private conversation. minutes later president obama said shinseki concluded he was too much of a distraction. >> so, my assessment was, unfortunately, but it was right.

i regret that he has to resign under these circumstances. >> reporter: shinseki's departure came as they released an audit of the health system that found facilities were flagged because of further review because of questionable scheduling practices. claiming his own officials have been lying to him. >> i was too trusting of some and i accept as accurate reports that i now know to be misleading with regard to patient wait times. >> reporter: the president said the white house was also in the dark that v.a. officials were concealing wait times. >> this issue of scheduling is one that the reporting systems inside of the vha did not surface to the levels where rick was aware of it or we were able to see it. >> reporter: over at the capital, house speaker john boehner had his own rapid response that shinseki's departure is not enough. >> his resignation, though, does

not absolve the problem of his responsibility to step in and make things right for our veterans. business as usual cannot continue. >> reporter: besides the internal probes of the scandal under way the chairman of the veterans affairs committee are also involved. >> criminal acts should be punished. no ifs, buts or maybes. >> reporter: expect other v.a. officials to go. >> we'll hold accountable specific individuals. >> reporter: but the va will do that with a new interim secretary gibson who has only been in his role as a deputy secretary for three months. a white house official says it's too early for a short list for a permanent replacement. christi and victor. >> jim acosta, thank you very much. the big question now, who is going to take over for shinseki long term? >> gibson is moving out of that spot and let's talk about some of the people on this short list or i should just say a list of possible contenders as we're just one day out here and they look forward to the future here.

jeff reed, mike mullen, peter charelli. >> i have a family who has a citizen soldier tradition that goes a long way back. my son left college and enlisted in the marines and fought in iraq. i followed these issues and worked on them pro bono and i'm here to help if they want some advice but not interested in the position. >> in addition to his time in the senate a decorated marine himself and also served as secretary of the navy. >> so, a u.s. marine sharing his story about being abused and tortured inside a mexican prison. now he says, yes, things are getting better, but we'll tell you what he credits for that just ahead. plus, a cnn reporter is roughed up in turkey on live television. it starts with little things. tiny changes in the brain.

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u.s. marine being detained in mexico said he was tortured and abused. his name is andrew and he says he's being treated better now that his story has attracted more attention, but says his first month in jail was a nightmare. >> mexican officials arrested him after he drove across the border with guns. he said it was an accident and cnn nick valencia has more. >> reporter: this was andrew days before his arrest living at a friend's house in san diego, looking for emotional support after two combat tours in afghanistan. >> we noticed the problems face-to-face where he was just acting distant and we could tell a clear sign of ptsd. >> reporter: over the course of the month his friends told cnn

things started to look up until the night of march 31st. he parked his car on the u.s. side and walked into mexico and he eventually returned to the u.s. on foot, got in his car and then made a fateful turn into mexico. his mom said the marine parked in this lot. he made a left right out of here, completely missing that sign that said mexico only, no usa return. straight on to that onramp right into mexico. >> i crossed the border by accident and i have three guns in my truck and they're trying to possess, they're trying to take my guns from me. >> reporter: not every car that goes into mexico gets checked. tahmooressi was pulled over because he didn't have a front license plate. never once did he say he was a u.s. marine or that he got lost. he's been imprisoned in mexico ever since. we spoke to him on the phone

from the mexican prison where he's being held. what have things been like for you there in mexico, andrew? >> not very good in the beginning. for like the first month things were not that good at all. >> reporter: tahmooresi is being held here. when i spoke to him by phone earlier he said he is being abused, mistreated and not given enough food or water. we weren't able to get inside the prisons to see for ourselves but when i talked to the head of the police at the jail he denied those allegations and said the marine is being treated well. but the drama surrounding his case has caused court delays. after firing his attorney before the first proceedings, tahmooressi may have to wait weeks to get another hearing. he is optimistic he will be released soon. what gives you that confidence, andrew? >> i'm not guilty.

and i'm confident that the judge is going to realize that. >> all right. nick joining us live from the mexico border. nick, good to see you. so, tahmooressi fired his lawyer. what is his next move? >> he has a new attorney, christi. we don't know who that is. his family would not disclose who that is. it could take weeks for a new hearing. just take sometime for that new attorney to be briefed on the case. a petition that reached over 100,000 signatures. now the white house must elicit a formal response about tahmooressi case and secretary of state john kerry spoke to the mexican government on wednesday and, obviously, we don't know if that will lead to the marine's release or not. christie victor. >> nick valencia near the

u.s./mexico border. thank you very much. let's go to turkey now where one of our cnn colleagues were taken into custody by officials. so, watch, this incident happened live on camera just a short time ago. ivan watson was doing a live report on the anniversary of the protests when he was approached by officials asking for his credentials. >> excuse me. i think i'm getting -- i think i'm being -- >> just a minute. may i see your passport? >> cnn. >> can i see your passport? >> we're now being checked. okay. anyway, this is my press card that allows me -- >> i need your passport. >> i need your passport. >> watson sent out a tweet,

turkish police detained me and my crew in the middle of a live report in thomson square. watson said his crew is doing all right now, but that they were detained for about half hour before being released. that got serious there for a moment. >> sounds a little scary when you don't understand what they're saying and they're just kind of taking you off. >> you have no idea what is next. >> you don't know what is coming. speaking of you don't know what is coming. the embattled l.a. clippers owner now suing the league and he wants him to pay him $1 billion. beautiful day in baltimore where most people probably know that geico could save them money on car insurance, right? you see the thing is geico, well, could help them save on boat insurance too. hey! okay...i'm ready to come in now. hello?

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teacher layoffs. and a 60 billion dollar budget deficit. that's what john perez faced when he became speaker of the california assembly. so he partnered with governor brown to pass three balanced budgets, on time. for the first time in thirty years. today, the deficits are gone and we've invested an additional 2 billion dollars in education. now john perez is running for controller, to keep fighting for balanced budgets. democrat john perez for controller. 20 minutes after the hour now. if this deal to sell the l.a. clippers goes through and this would be a story, but, donald sterling the current owner he

knows and he says at least that this battle with the nba is not over. >> yeah, the l.a. clippers' owner is suing the league itself now, the nba for $1 billion because of its decision to ban him for life and force him to give up his franchise. >> so, this is all coming as his estranged wife, shelly sterling agreed to sell the team to steve ballmer for $2 billion. let's talk about it. joining us now vice president of aim sports representation management and rick harrow sports business analyst. good to have both of you. i want to start with you, rick. do you think this team is worth $2 billion? >> i don't have a monet or a picasso, but i can tell you those are worth whatever people are willing to pay for it. i'm amused people putting a value on this or any other franchise. the nba will strike a huge television deal in the next couple of years and the clippers will in the l.a. market. they may rebrand the team, maybe

changing the name, i don't know. but new start, a team on the court, by the way, that's better than kobe's lakers with someone that has discretionary money to spend. to you and me, maybe $2 billion doesn't mean a whole lot. steve ballmer, maybe not. to others, absolutely. no nba franchise has sold for less than what it is originally purchased for. there is the appreciation. >> we count on you for 20. >> exactly, if we all pool our money. i want to read something from sterling's lawsuit. this is a quote here. the forced sale of the los angeles clippers threatens not only to produce a lower price than a nonforced sale but forces anti-trust injury by the free market. so, brian, do you agree with that? do you think the sterlings could have gotten more if it had not

been a forced sale? >> well, absolutely. that is part of the agreement that he originally went in to to become an nba owner you sign away all these rights. so often some of these things they get the anti-trust benefits and get the tax exemptions and stadium subsidies. for once, this is working against him. he agreed to give that all up when he became part of the league. he really doesn't have much of a leg to stand on. the only thing he can claim here is that his wife is actually acting, you know, out of bounds by declaring him incompetent. that's where i think this is probably headed. >> so, i wonder initially as part of this trust, does shelly sterling have the right at any time to determine or have doctors determine if her husband is mentally unfit? so, i guess that's something we'll find out with this trust. rick, my question to you, how could this lawsuit from donald sterling interfere with the sale? >> well, listen, the nba had a

preem preemptive response and as a lawyer, i'm gleeful. all these lawyers are getting a boat load of money to play offense and defense. the nba has a great battery of lawyers and they know what they're doing. adam silver is a trained lawyer at david stern who was an amazing lawyer, as well. and, clearly, the issue is donald sterling can litigate until the day he dies. but the question is, is there injunkative relief and can they shut the process down? published reports that shelly sterling would indemnify the nba against a lawsuit if she sells to steve ballmer and escrow efunds available. now come out of the sterling family trust if donald sues shelly. the nba may have boxed donald sterling to a precarious box into the benefit of the nba and basically all sports down the road. >> donald and shelly's

relationship under a lot of scrutiny and some people, brian, who think i wonder if these two are working in cucahoots to make this happen. what is your take? >> hard to tell with the sterling family. certainly been a true soap opera playing out in front of us. only a month ago a man would run and nobody would question his competence and then certainly a month later he is declared incompetent. i think it's a little bit problematic in the fact that he hasn't had his sort of day in court in front of the nba owners and he signs all that away when he agrees to become an owner. nobody is really crying for him. so, he's kind of on his own. as rick points out, he could sit here and sue until the cows come home. he may, he may very well but it's not going to matter much in the end. >> as soon as you think this is wrapping up, some bizarre twist. thank you both. >> thanks, guys. >> thank you. so, you know eric shinseki resigned as va chief.

the question now that some people are asking is, will the va scandal affect the way you vote when you go to the polls during midterm elections? we've been following this one. two women are facing off in california in a courtroom. the wife of radio icon casey kasem versus his daughter. [ brian ] in a race, it's about getting to the finish line. in life, it's how you get there that matters most. it's important to know the difference. like when i found out i had a blood clot in my leg. my doctor said that it could travel to my lungs and become an even bigger problem. and that i had to take action. so he talked to me about xarelto®. [ male announcer ] xarelto® is the first oral prescription blood thinner proven to treat and help prevent dvt and pe that doesn't require regular blood monitoring or changes to your diet. [ brian ] for a prior dvt i took warfarin, which required routine blood testing and dietary restrictions. not this time.

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i hope saturday has been good to you so far. 29 minutes past the hour, i'm christi paul. >> i'm victor blackwell. >> the state department confirming claims that an american carried out this suicide bombing you're looking at here in syria one week ago and now they want to know why, obviously. he's been identified and he grew up in florida and went to syria late last year to join extremist

fighters. they're interviewing his family and friends now to try to determine more. number two. beaten, shackled to his bed and given no food or water that's what a marine said has happened to him in a mexican prison. andrew tahmooressi behind bars for two months now. he accidentally crossed the border with guns in his car and he's coping with phone calls to his family, prayers and hope that he'll get well soon. number three, so, if you want to eat at sonic or chili's, you've got to go gunless. the two chains are adding their names to the list of businesses that would prefer its customers not carry weapons when dining at their establishments. both said they respect gun laws, but they want their customers to feel comfortable. donald sterling now suing the nba for $1 billion. the l.a. clippers owner said he's taken the league to court because of his decision to ban him for life and force him to give up the franchise. this comes just as his wife,

shelly sterling has a deal to sell the team for $2 billion. the most ever paid for an nba franchise. number 5, a 19-month-old toddler in critical condition now after being severely burned by a grenade. they were trying to catch a suspected drug dealer when they threw the device into a north georgia home earlier this week. now, according to the child's family the grenade landed in the boy's bed and exploded on his pillow. police say they were not aware a child was in the home at the time of the raid. well, it is day one of the search for the next head of the department of veterans affairs. president obama accepted va chief resignation yesterday. >> he left after delays in medical care for veterans with a lot of democrats veterans groups asking him to step down. we want to bring in ben ferguson and robert zimmerman. thank you, both, for being with

us. all right, so, ben, let me start with you. i know that you tweeted, i believe, well done, barack obama, for making the right decision. shinseki has been fired. let's remember shinseki did resign as we know it. does it matter, ultimately, though, whether the president fired him or whether he resigned himself? >> well, it was weird yesterday because when it initially came out and the president said he had resigned, i was giving him full credit for that because it's what needed to happen. it's what veterans deserve. they needed a new person in charge. and then the only time that obama got emotional yesterday in that press conference was when he was defending his former va secretary and i'm sitting there going, where is the disconnect? you had veterans that died and families buried their loved one and your most emotional part is defending the guy that is now leaving and said he was the one who decided it was time for him to leave -- >> robert? >> the disconnect is your analysis of that press conference. obviously, i think the president

spoke nobly and well by recognizing his military service and as a four-star general and a purple heart recipient. and we also recognize young shinseki's real achievements in the veteran administration dealing with homelessness and jobs and claims, backlogs and, of course, the scandal that is now consumed the veterans administration and the mistakes that general shinseki made in this process obviously led him to resign and i believe he is truly committed to helping the veteran administration move forward and that means he has to step aside. >> do you think -- let me get this question in. do you think he was the fall guy here? did he have to go? >> well, clearly, he had to go because, ultimately, he became a political target. the focus became general shinsekis the ways to form and change the veteran administration. politically he had to leave and you raise an important point,

victor. by him becoming the fall guy, will the media lose its focus? will the public lose its focus as opposed to keeping the attention on the systematic changes that have to be made in the veteran administration. >> i don't think that is going to happen because so many people on both sides of the aisle actually care about this and that is one of the things that many veterans i talked with yesterday had real concern over. it is the disconnect at the top that seems to be the va secretary did the right thing by stepping down and resigning. i think everyone can agree on that one. but is there really going to be a change mandated and demanded from the top of the white house if the president of the united states of america really was not planning on firing him yesterday and said it wasn't his idea for him to resign. i think that's why veterans are concerned right now. is this what you're going to be what you just explained. one guy that is gone and the same va system and the same veterans that are hurting. remember, funding for the va has gone up 60% since 2009. so, putting money into the

system is not correlating into better care for our veterans. we have to have a different system and the va knows that. >> robert, let me ask you something. a lot of people are following this and going to the polls for midterm elections. do you think this scandal, robert, will make a difference in how people vote when they go? >> no, i don't think the scandal is going to make a difference because a lot of bipartisan blame here for this situation going, for the situation that took place. i'll tell you where it does become a political issue. if the american people don't see results, if they see members of congress and either party getting in the way of the needed reforms and the need to bring on more doctors and nurses and the need to provide more immediate health care for veterans to avoid the wait lines by going to their local hospitals. if we see members of congress getting in the way of that and results from the administration, then it becomes a political issue. but the political gotcha game may play well on talk radio and to political pundits but people with real lives want to see results. >> i don't think it's a gotcha

game at all because there are people that are actually veterans that it cost them their life and i think that's not a political game at all to those family members. and any veteran that's watching this knows this isn't a talk radio thing. this is real life for them and some of them, unfortunately, life and death. i do think this is going to be a big issue at the polls. if veveterans don't feel like the administration has gotten a handle on this and changing with actual reforms, they are certainly going to be a large voting bloc to be dealt with. >> ben, that's exactly what i said. don't misinterpret my words. the partisan rhetoric is the gotcha game. the tragedy is the scandal and both parties have to be held accountable for decades of problems in the veterans administration and there has to be criminal prosecution to hold people accountable. >> but only one -- >> obviously, outrageous acts. >> only one president of the united states of america and he is the guy that is in charge right now and that is the person that has to start with, with the reforms. you can't go back five, six, seven, eight years and try to put this on someone else.

you have one president of the united states of america who was re-ele re-elected. he is the commander of chief and in control of everyone in the military and has to start with him. robert zimmerman, this conversation could go on for the rest of the hour. i thank you, both, for adding your insight. >> thank you. >> thank you, gentlemen. so, the family of legendary disc jockey casey kasem are locked in this bitter battle in court right now. his wife and daughter are now fighting over who gets to take care of him. you think you take off all your make-up before bed. but do you really? [ female announcer ] neutrogena® makeup remover erases 99% of your most stubborn makeup with one towelette. can your makeup remover do that?

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the indiana pacers. they knocked out of the pacers three years in a row and game six in the western conference finals kicks off at 8:30 eastern tomorrow. san antonio takes on oklahoma city. watch the game on our sister network tnt. generations of music lovers grew up listening to casey kasem. the radio counting down, you know, the top 40 hits. >> remembered it well. the man behind it is in the midst a fierce court battle of his wife on one side and his daughter on the other and fighting who can take care of him. drew mickelson has more from washington state there. >> guardianship of casey kasem. >> reporter: an awkward family reunion as gene kasem and her stepdaughter, carrie, face off to decide who should be in charge of the medical care of disc jockey legend casey kasem. >> we're concerned about his

health because we don't know what condition he is in. >> reporter: gave carrie kasem exclusive medical authority over her father but the family is in washington on vacation would not allow carrie to visit or to take her father to the doctor. she has been worried about the 82-year-old's health since his wife took him out of a california nursing home earlier this month. >> he now has a stage three bed sore and a bladder infection and a lung infection from being moved and not, in my opinion, what i've heard nothing taken care of to the fullest extent. >> hear arguments next week on whether the california order has any merit in washington. but she ruled kerri has the right to visit her father and take him to the doctor. >> i'm happy with how the court proceedings went today. >> shame on these children! shame who have done this to their father and who have shredded my family. >> reporter: she eand her daughter, liberty, are taking good care of casey.

he is struggling, though, with what's happening to his family. gene played a recording of what she said was his reaction to the court's ruling. he is crying. my husband is an american treasure. he wanted to go out strong. he wanted to leave beautiful memories. that was all torn apart today. >> our thanks to drew mickelson of cnn affiliate knig. kerri kasem and her siblings denounce the recording of her father that you just heard. reprehensible invasion of privacy. if you are an ebayer, you got the e-mail last week, change your password and do it now because of a humongous hack there. >> huge. >> so, up next, tell you not only how to protect your personal information online, but also how you can better keep track of all of your passwords.

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or through corporate 't know ift the online auction site ebay was hacked exposing the personal information of its 145 million users and that prompted the company to ask all its users to change its passwords. >> we want to get to two things specifically this morning. how can you best safeguard your personal information online and is there a better way to keep track of all your passwords aother than that memory that isn't always so smart. >> the memory loses it. so, here to help us understand those digital questions, digital lifestyle expert founder of carlyk.com. good to have you back. so, let's start with the question of how do we protect all that personal information. i mean, how much information should we put out there? >> well, there's always a certain amount of risk with sharing your personal information online, but usually the convenience outweighs the risk and that's why we give our mailing address and our credit card information to these big retailers because they make it

so easy to purchase online if we share all those with them. so, that assessment of how much to share is really a personal decision risk versus convenience that everyone has to make for themself. >> how do we know if it's safe that we're sitting online and we know it's safe to give them our credit card information or our mailing address or our phone number and, you know, can we fudge it a little bit? maybe you know, maybe give a number? >> well, the first, the first question is how do we know it's safe? you never want to give your personal information to a site that is not a secure page. if it starts with an https, that s stands for secure. you can also look for that little lock icon in the bottom right corner of the browser and that will tell you that the page that you're on is safe to transmit your credit card information and as far as fudging your information and get

your credit card authorized and that's the reason why it's there in the first place and a smarter idea and certainly less popular idea is to read the private policy and the terms of service for that site and that will give you a good picture of what they're planning to do with your information and help you make an informed decision about whether you want to share. >> i have never read terms of service. if you give me a click and keep moving, i'm doing it. can we talk about the passwords? i think most people generally use one password and alter it a little bit. one needs a capital letter and a digit and then you forget which goes where. how do we keep track of all these? >> it's true. you know these hacks are not going anywhere. this is our new normal as we increasingly move our digital information, our information online. so, we have to be better prepared. we have to have better digital hygiene, i call it. using a password manager is

actually one of the smartest things you can do. a well rated one. like last pass or dash lane, many others. a well rated one will help you store all of your sensitive information behind one master password and help you log in to all the different sites that you go to. that means that you can make your passwords for all those individual sites longer and more complicated so they're a bit more hacker proof and it also means that you have, if you use it consistently, a pretty accurate list of who has your personal information. if you're feeling like you're spread around a little bit too much online, you can go in and delete accounts. >> how do you know that app is hackerproof? >> well, people ask me this question all the time and i usually turn it around on them and i say, where are you currently storing your passwords? if it's in a notebook in your desk and people show me this stuff all the time and it's a huge digital no no or even worse having the same password for all the sites that you can remember.

so, a well-rated password manager is a huge security upgrade from any of those solutions. i highly recommend it. >> all right, good to know. carley knobloch, thank you. appreciate it. >> i keep all my passwords in one place. no, no, i actually have to be able to read them. i'm not going to tell you where because then it would be no point. donald sterling not just clashing with the nba the embattled clippers owners now demanding that the league pay him $1 billion. the clash now has a dollar sign next to it. could the move interfere with the historic deal his wife reached to sell the team? ♪ ♪ abe! get in!

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>> brandon was 5 weeks old when he got his heart transplant. i have been caring for brandon since he was born. >> heart disease is the number one killer in america. it can happen in a second and it uproots your life entirely. a lot of families travel to new york city for top cardiac care. however, new york city is also one of the most expensive places to live and stay. my father passed away after battling heart disease for nearly two years. while we were at the hospital, we met countless families that didn't have a place to stay. they were emotionally drained and financially not in the best situation. how are you guys doing and feeling? i co-founded harboring hearts. helps families with emotional and financial support and any other types of emergency needs.

>> brandon need to have biopsy every few months. without the foundation we wouldn't be able to be close to the hospital because of my economical situation. >> i want to thank you in the time that we really need it. >> reporter: after my father passed away, i wanted to do something positive and bring happiness and relief and support to the families in need. >> so, if you know someone like michelle who deserves recognition, we want to know about them. go to cnnheroes.com. and that's going to do it for us. go make some great memories today. >> it's been a pleasure being with you all morning long. stay right here, though, because we have much more ahead in the next hour of "cnn newsroom" and turning things over to our colleague dana bash. >> hey, guys. great to be here. i'm dana bash in for fredricka whitfield. the 11:00 hour of "newsroom" starts right now.

a suicide bomber who carried out an attack in war-torn syria has now been identified as an american. officials say he's a u.s. citizen who grew up in florida. he went to school there and according to "new york times" played in a youth basketball league, too. but somewhere along the way something changed. and he went to syria to join extremists linked to al qaeda. mohammed is following the story american? >> the state department say that he grew up in florida, that he went to school there. they're not sure when he went to syria. they have not diverged details of how he went or why he went. to went to join up with the ranks of the jihadists. video online showing the attack he was involved in.

now, you see this with huge blast in one of these videos. there's always a still picture of this man where you see him holding a cat. the video that you're looking at right now is actually showing the planning stages of this attack when artillery shells were being loaded into one of the trucks that was used for the attack. this was a huge attack. and then the initial stages when we were trying to confirm the story american officials were saying they could not confirm the identity of this man unless they could do dna tests. the shockwaves it was very unlikely that they would get their hands on any remains to do any kind of testing. this is a very disturbing development, not just because there are americans that are fighting currently in syria and we're told by analysts that there are at least 100 americans currently there. it's also disturbing for u.s. officials because they worry about what will happen when these fighters that are over there, the ones that survive the fighting actually come back to the homeland.

there's great concern that american fighters that are in syria and that are learning terrorism techniques from the ranks of al qaeda members might be able to plot out attacks against the u.s., dana? >> that leads to my next question which is, the concern about that. if you have americans in america who are presumably u.s. citizens and that are trained as terrorists, you know, the concern that it will be a lot easier for them to conduct those attacks here on the homeland. >> that's right. u.s. officials have stated since yesterday that one of the things that they're really looking into now is networks of recruiters that are tied to al qaeda that are trying to convince americans that might be attracted to this cause to come over to syria and other hot spots, fight alongside them and then return to the homeland and use the techniques that they've learned against the u.s. or other countries. this is a very real fear. it's actually a nightmare scenario and one of the reasons that this story is so disturbing to u.s. officials. another reason it's so

disturbing is because you have the actual, physical war going on in syria, which is so bloody and so deadly, but also the propaganda war. in an instance like this where there is now video of an american who was in syria who became the first suicide bomber, that is going to be used repeatedly by jihadists there as propaganda to try to recruit more americans to their cause. they see this as a big win for them. dana? >> very disturbing. thank you very much, mohammed jj. a new twist in the sale surrounding the nba clippers. the team's co-owner donald sterling dropped a major bombshell. suing the nba for $1 billion, billion with a "b" dollars. no right to force the sale of the clippers at all and terminating his ownership is unconstitutional and in breach of contract. this comes as new questions are out there about his mental state and his wife, shelly, agreeing

to sell the team for $2 billion to former microsoft ceo steve ballmer. alexandra steel joins us. >> blockbuster number. apparently worth it to steve ballmer and outbid the closest competitor by $4 million. a lot of people estimating the team would sell between $700 million and it took a lot of people by surprise and have the other nba team owners taking notice. a $2 billion bid for a basketball team smashes records, but what is steve ballmer the former microsoft mogul getting for all that money? >> a team better on the court today than the los angeles lakers with a great lease at the staples center and a new upside television deal that he is about to negotiate in los angeles. >> reporter: future tv deals both local and national could bring in close to an extra $100

million a year by some estimates, which is a lot, but not the big picture. >> in the first few years, profits are going to be very minimal. this isn't something he's buying because he wants to make money. this is someone who is going to take 10% of their net worth and they're going to buy a sports team in l.a., which is going to give them a lot of prestige. >> reporter: for $2 billion, there is plenty of prestige, a way for the wealthy to diversify investments and with a salary cap in place, nba owners can be protected from dipping into their own pockets. >> steve ballmer knows that if he runs this team somewhat prudently, he is not going to have to put any capital into the team. >> if you have $20 billion, it's not a bad thing. >> reporter: in january forbes' list of nba team value ranked the clippers 13th with an estimated worth of $575 million. their potential sale price was estimated at around $1 billion once donald sterling's racist

rant was revealed. >> the nba should trip over itself and get the documents done, approve this transaction and move on to other business just as fast as humanly possible. >> reporter: the $2 billion price tag could help send the values of some of the league's most valuable franchises soaring. >> i don't think you'll be able to buy a big market nba team for less than $3 billion. >> more big numbers. because of this agreement to sell the team for $2 billion, the nba has said that it will cancel the meeting it had scheduled for june 3rd during which the other owners would force donald sterling to sell the team. the owners do still have to approve this sale and why there are a lot of reasons they would want to approve the sale and do it quickly, the $2 billion price tag. a lot of owners are thinking about the values of their own teams and how they could be elevated. >> not everybody has microsoft money. thank you so much. coming up, va fallout. this is the first full day on the job for the interim

secretary of veteran affairs. what should his first step be? how can veterans make sure eric shinseki's resignation doesn't end the pressure for reform. i'll ask a congressman and former va doctor straight ahead. [ shutter clicks ] hi there! [ laughs ] -i'm flo! -i know! i'm going to get you your rental car. this is so ridiculous. we're going to manage your entire repair process from paperwork to pickup, okay, little tiny baby? your car is ready, and your repairs are guaranteed for as long as you own it. the progressive service center -- a real place, where we really manage your claim from start to finish. really. ♪ easy as easy can be bye!

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va secretary eric shinseki stepped down but only ramp up the pressure on president obama to fix the veteran administration. so diseased, 42 va facilities under investigation for improper scheduling practices and delayed care for veterans. what is next at the va? how do we get it back on track? on the phone is dan, a former va doctor himself and a member of the house veterans affairs committee. also with us is cnn aaron mcpike. i want to start with you to give us the latest on how members of

congress, republicans, in particular, will keep the pressure on for reform now that shinseki is out. >> dana, as you well know once the white house begins to float some of the names who could replace eric shinseki as the head of the va, republicans will certainly make their feelings known. they are also calling for a criminal investigation. taking reporter questions about how it came to this. president obama explained. >> we occupy a not just an environment that calls for management fixes, we've also got to deal with congress and you guys and i think judgment that he could not carry out the next stages of reform without being a distraction himself. so, my assessment was, unfortunately, but it was right. >> reporter: shinseki's

resignation might not end the firestorm. >> well, the distractions that rick refers to, in part, are political. >> reporter: house speaker john boehner warned -- >> one personnel change cannot be used. our veterans deserve better and we'll hold the president accountable until he makes things right. >> reporter: he tapped sloan gibson to lead the va for the time being. acknowledging gibson has been on the job for only three months. >> we'll need a new va secretary. so, sloan is acting. sloan, i think, would be the first to acknowledge that he is going to have a learning curve he has to deal with. >> reporter: obama insisted that gibson can be order to the va. >> i want somebody who is spending every minute of every day figuring out, have we called every single veteran that's waiting? have they gotten a schedule? are we fixing the system? what kind of new technology do we need? have we made a realistic

assessment of how long the wait times are right now and how are we going to bring those wait times down in certain facility wheres the wait times are too long? >> reporter: still, he'll have investigations and congress to contend with. >> our committee in the house will continue in full force investigating all of the systemic problems that exist within the department up to and including the criminal activity that is growing more apparent every day. >> reporter: now, the president said that he'll leave all questions about a potential criminal investigation to the justice department, dana. >> erin, thank you very much. we turn now to congressman. thank you for being with us. you were among the lawmakers probably the first seeking shinseki's resignation. now it happened. what should be the first thing that the acting va secretary, sloan gibson, should do? >> i think they should be listening to the people providing the care. that has been the problem all along is that the upper

management sort of dictates things are going without talking to the people who actually are caring for patients. i took care of patients at the va for 20 years and they never listened to any of my ideas. they just have an idea that they just carry out and it makes things less efficient. a good champal is t aexample is got rid of the sterilizer at the hospital i was at without talking to the chief of surgery. there was no sterilizer at the hospital. it makes the latest care. they don't have a plan to hire physicians in the va. you know, they're always short of physicians. all kinds of ideas from the people that take care of patients how to manage this better and frankly upper management is complacent and no culture of accountability in the va and nobody gets fired. and that's what we need to change and that needed to come from the top and this is, mr. shinseki resigning is one thing but instilling that urgency that

we need to fix this is another thing. we need to make sure we have leadership that does that and the management is not complacent. >> you do have such a unique perspective. you were a va doctor yourself and now in congress and you have oversight of the va. you have the ability to change it, at least to give ideas that can be implemented based on your unique experience. so, how do you do that? >> i would hope the administration would listen to some people that had experience within the va. you know, someone like myself because, like i said, they do things within the va that hinder the timely care of veterans rather than faster because they're not lisening to the people on the ground. no way for positions on the ground to communicate with upper management, it's very frustrating. >> i'm sure it is very frustrating and i am sure you would agree it's not just this administration and just not theedthe ed administration beforehand. this has been going on for decades since the beginning of the va, it's a systemic problem.

one of the things that is most outrageous to people is something i believe that you brought up in one of the hearings last week which is the financial incentives that people at these va offices have to cook the books to fake lower wait times. you press the va official on that and you didn't get much of an answer, did you? >> well, i asked for the names of the people that actually did the destruction of the data so we could question them and he didn't even talk to those people. and he reassured us that they were doing it within the rules, but how does he know, he didn't even talk to the people involved. that's the kind of answers we get from the people all the time and frankly happy that there's been this media firestorm because we've been talking about the issues in the three years that i've been in congress bringing up issues in pennsylvania and florida and los angeles and now in phoenix. finally, we have some national press on it that pressed the administration to press significant change. this has been going on for far

too long, as you mentioned. stay on it and hope they'll take input from people in the committee. like i said, i've experienced many other people in the committee have experience in the va and working with them and, you know, we can provide positive input and it's not a political issue as far as i'm concerned. the records were completely bipartisan and unanimous in the committee and we want to take care of the veterans. >> well, i'm sure you do. it's my day job to watch congress and i have been doing it for years where there's a lot of partisanship. this is one of those rare bipartisan issues where i'm seeing democrats and republicans like you come together to try to fix a problem, but it certainly is not going to be easy. congressman, thank you very much. appreciate your time. see you back in washington. >> dana, thanks. now, you're going to want to be with us tomorrow morning for the "state of the union" with candy crowley. former u.s. ambassador to the u.n. susan rice returns to the show. the timing couldn't be better.

hillary clinton has just released excerpts from her new book where she addressed the terror attack on the benghazi attack on the u.s. consulate. you'll certainly want to tune in to that. we turn to something that parents around the country are dealing with and michelle obama has, too. should kids be getting pizza or salad for their school lunches? she is in a food fight with congress and so far she's lost. what is the future of her healthy eating standards for schools? [ brian ] in a race, it's about getting to the finish line. in life, it's how you get there that matters most. it's important to know the difference. like when i found out i had a blood clot in my leg. my doctor said that it could travel to my lungs and become an even bigger problem. and that i had to take action.

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house republicans may have taken salad off the menu at some schools across the country on a party line vote the gop controlled appropriations committee in the house voted friday for a one-year delay of new nutrition standards for school lunches. struggling schools can for now continue to serve pizza and fries. that's not sitting well with the first lady who made this her focus. >> reporter: the first lady has been flexing her political muscles in a food fight over school lunches. >> we have to be willing to fight the hard fight now. >> reporter: but today she lost round one with house republicans.

>> the amendment is not agreed to. >> reporter: that means schools may get a one-year delay on a rule that would limit fat and salt in school meals and require healthier ingredients. >> give schools an opt out saying you don't have to participate in the school lunch program if it's hard. well, we don't tell kids, look, you don't have to take math if it's hard or science if it's hard. >> this is where the heavy hand of the government is coming down and trying to dictate to local school systems everything about even putting salt shakers on the table. s so, again, this is just buying time. >> reporter: still mrs. obama won't be pulling her punches any time soon. the latest in the battle for better food? a "new york times" op-ed where she writes about the republican effort, our children deserve so much better than this. the first lady has often enlisted her celebrity friends to promote her let's move campaign to encourage kids to exercise. ♪ >> deep inside the white house

kitchen. >> reporter: today she went straight to a champ tweeting this youtube video featuring richard sherman as a chef. >> richard, take me through your final plate. >> well, let me tell you. >> reporter: mrs. obama herself as a sideline reporter. >> whether you're a pro-athlete or just a kid at school wanting a healthy meal, you have to put the right fuel in your body in order to perform your best. >> reporter: sherman may be a winner, but no touchdown yet for the first lady. the next stop is the house floor and democrats are going to keep fighting to try and strip that waiver language out. it will probably be an uphill battle because republicans control the house, but will we'll be watching closely to see what happens. athena jones, cnn, washington. this week i talked with cnn.com's kelly wallace about the issue. she's editor at large for digital focusing on family. i asked her about a conversation she had about lunches with her two children.

>> we talk about politics quite a bit and my husband and i were talking about what was going on here with the school rules and the first lady's fight and my 8-year-old daughter said, why wouldn't they want to serve healthy meals? and i just love that question. of course, we explained to her, you know, it's a little more complicated than that and when we start talking to an 8-year-old about the house appropriations committee, it is a little bit over her head. but we talked about her school where they have a program called wellness in the schools our pta helps fund it a little bit and she has fruits and vegetables at their, for their lunches. so, it's kind of something that they have in their schools. she had a hard time understanding why all schools don't have that, too. >> no, i get that. listen, i'm going to have a guilty mom moment here, kelly. that is this morning i was lucky enough that my son asked me for a banana for breakfast. but guess what happened before we were trying to get out the door to go to school. guess what he wanted?

a brownie. you're in that position do you give him the brownie and get him to school or do you have a fight which you know will end up in a tantrum and guess what i did? >> you gave him the brownie. >> but it is also because he did ask for the banana. the point i want to make in giving this crazy mom story is that it's not always easy for a mom to dictate and determine what kind of food the kids are going to eat. so, it can't be easy for a school to do it. >> it isn't. that's such a good point, dana. we don't want to put ourselves out there that our kids eat fruits and vegetablealize the time, they don't. but kids, you know, you have a son. they do learn from us. so, if you do make fruits and vegetables more readily available, if you serve whole grain pasta once in a while and whole wheat bread they kind of start getting used to it because it's around and that's kind of the thinking here with these

rules. it's hard, yes. and schools are saying it's costing more money and taking more time and those may be very valid points, but i think the overall issue is if we can encourage our kids and if they see it's available and especially at younger and younger ages, won't they likely develop the habits that, you know, picking up an apple may be just as easy as grabbing a bag of potato chips. >> you're talking about our role as parents and the kind of environment that we provide for them with regard to eating. then that begs the question about some of the critics of michelle obama which is, you know, is it the role of government, particularly when some of these schools have real financial issues. is it the role of government to be, you know, making these choices and everything else. >> you know politics better than almost all of us, right?

i mean there is, obviously, that issue here. people who feel really, really strongly that government shouldn't dictate what moms and dads are giving their kids, you know, for breakfast and lunch and what schools have to give their kids. so, i think that is part of it. but if you look at it, it looks to be about 90% of schools across the country are adhering to these new rules. so, majority of the schools are doing it and majority of families seem to think that it's not necessarily the government saying this is what we should do, science is saying, yes, less fat, less sodium, less sugar is better for our kids. so, with that backing, it's an argument to people saying it's not the government stepping in, it's kind of science and medicine saying this is probably a better way to go. >> thank you, kelly wallace. coming up, more on school lunches. we'll talk to representative robert aderholt why he says the new lunch regulations are too much, too soon. is the mexican government making an example out of a u.s.

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when he'll get out of a mexican jail where he's languished for two months. in a phone conversation with cnn andrew tahmooressi describes brutal conditions. he has been shackled, punched, left naked, sometimes even under. he insists he crossed the border by mistake and he was arrested because he had three guns in his truck, which are illegal to bring into mexico. his mother explains why he was carrying the weapons. >> he had arrived march 12th. he was diagnosed positive for ptsd and one of his symptoms was hypervigilance to self-defense. that's why he carried a concealed weapons permit. nick valencia who has been in phone contact with tahmooressi joins us from right across the border. nick, let's talk about this story because it is absolutely mind blowing to think about the fact that he is a u.s. marine who has been in a mexican prissen for two months.

we're not talking about north korea here, we're talking about mexico, who the u.s. is supposed to have pretty good relations with. >> it is complicating matters. some would say that the mexican government is making an example of tahmooressi. came into the country with .44 caliber handgun and a shotgun and ar-15 rifle. and he maintains that it was an accident. those that you talk to along the border, some here in this community in san ysidro are skeptical of his story. signs are clear on the interstates. you cannot bring weapons and guns into mexico. some may be wondering why tahmooressi had guns in his car to begin with. he just moved from florida to california and essentially living out of his truck. the friend told me that he asked that friend to store his guns in the friend's apartment but because there were two young children in that apartment, the friend didn't feel comfortable so tahmorressi had not only his guns, but all of his clothes and really all of his possessions, dana. >> mexico is fighting a drug

war, trying to. concerned about guns crossing the border, understandable. is this about the mexican government just making an example out of this u.s. marine? >> well, those who are familiar with u.s./mexico relations know that there is a long-standing, i guess you could call it rivalry. there is tension between the u.s. military and the mexican military. this happens to be a situation where, you know, tahmooressi made an example by the mexican government despite his claims he is innocent. it is worth noting when i talk to the state department about this case they tell me that more than 100 people cross the border, which really the main issue here though is that tahmooressi had guns, personal firearms that were registered to him and he brought those across. when you listen to the 911 call you hear him make mention concerned that mexican officials trying to take his guns away. his family said that his mind

really hasn't been in the right place for quite some time now. he was recently diagnosed with ptsd and when i talked to the family members, his mother specifically, she emphasizes that he is going through post-traumatic stress and that things are very difficult and his mind was simply somewhere else during the whole unfolding of this incident. dana? >> nick, what an incredible story. we know you'll stay on it. thank you very much. speaking of guns. has america's gun culture change the way we treat strangers? one journalist's personal experience coming up next. y cha. little things, anyone can do. it steals your memories. your independence. insures support. a breakthrough. and sooner than you'd like... ...sooner than you think. ...you die from alzheimer's disease. ...we cure alzheimer's disease. every little click, call, or donation adds up to something big.

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that corporate trial by fire when every slacker gets his due. and yet, there's someone around the office who hasn't had a performance review in a while. 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. last week's shooting rampage near santa barbara, california, reminded us that almost anywhere we go in the u.s. guns are a fact of life. that knowledge is changing the way a lot of people in the u.s.

react to the actions of strangers. where we might have once shouted an expletive or given a single fingal salute after being cut off in traffic some of us are hitting the pause button. this week he wrote about a personal experience that crystalized his thoughts on the fear of getting shot. i'm going to read you some of his story. he said, "the passing car rolled to a quick stop. i just hurled an epithet to get his attention. it worked. it was dark and i was walking the dog along the side of the street, our neighborhood has no sidewalks, when an approaching driver for some reason flicked off his headlights and sped up. the move was mystifying, stupid and dangerous. and i wanted to get the guy's attention because every now and again i find it necessary to

point out someone's stupidity. your piece was incredible and enlightening particularly to people who don't live in areas like we do in the state of georgia where you have these laws that allow people to carry guns. why did you feel the need to write this? what about the shift in culture across america, particularly here in georgia? >> as you say, it was personal. i was driving down the road or walking down the road and the guy didn't almost hit me, but just really kind of a weird thing and i just yelled, hey, epithet to get his attention and he did stop and something about vehicles just make people a little more intense. >> you can have road rage when you're not driving a car. >> i wanted to go over and scold him and took a couple steps and then i just thought of all these things. that basically in georgia it's, you know, you have the right to keep a gun in your house and

your carer as an extension of that. now, guns are, the guns everywhere law is in effect and people feel empowered by their guns. they feel worried about crime and i just thought, you know, this guy might have a gun. and maybe five years ago i wouldn't have thought that. maybe because i'm getting older and maybe it's in the news and we write about it more. i basically got wise and turned around and let him go unscolded. >> let me play the devil's advocate here the fact that you decided to bite your tongue and not go after him in a way that you may have before. could that be not a terrible thing? if people have in the back of their mind that an altercation that might not need to happen could end in serious violence. >> sure. that's, obviously, the interesting twist to all of this. in my mind originally then i thought, wow, he got away unscathed by my wrath and

telling him how to drive correctly. but i guess at the same point, you are correct. i didn't basically walk over to him. he could have then, you know, as the police were putting crime tape around my body could have said this guy was a threat to me. and i'm sure that would have, you know, i don't have, i'm not around to reason for myself any more. and he'd get away scott free. >> and you've covered crime for a long time. and the gun culture. just, for example, where we are right now in georgia, again, for people who are around the country maybe in cities in the northeast watching, they might not understand that here, for example, the democratic candidate for governor whose last night is carter, jimmy carter's grandson is for these very liberal gun rights laws. >> put him in a tough spot, but, yeah, he did have to vote for it because in the fall he's going to be running against the

conservative republican incumbent and he didn't want to be -- >> but it speaks to the gun culture in so many places like here. >> oh, yeah, he'd be, that would be a liability for him politically. you know, i think that those who are anti-gun will vote for him anyway. he basically is trying to move to the center or move to the right here in georgia. and, yeah, so, i think that he just did a calculus and he decided to go with it. >> when i read your piece i thought about the old west and people walking into saloons and thinking about somebody getting shot. maybe we are getting back to that place. >> the new law allows you to bring your gun into the saloon. >> the fact that we're mindful of it is fascinating. thank you for coming in, appreciate it. >> sure. now, healthier school lunches. for kids it seems like a no brainer, right? some in congress say it's not so simple.

in a minute we'll meet a congressman who will tell you why. but, first, a michigan woman just marked a milestone. she turned 115 years old and she holds a distinct title in the u.s. her story is a true american journey. here's gary tuchman. >> that's the youngest one. >> reporter: a baby born in the 21st century. his great, great-grandmother born in the 19th century. geraldine is the oldest living people in america and one of the last known people born in the 1800s. she lives with her daughter, thelma. how old are you, if you don't mind me asking. >> in november i'll be 77 years old. >> reporter: and you are her little girl. >> i am her little girl. >> reporter: her mother was born may 23rd, 1899. this is her 115th birthday. what is the secret to living to 115?

the lord. the father above. >> i got nothing. >> reporter: i think you have a lot. >> he's got it all. >> reporter: he's got it all. >> he's got yours and mine and everybody else's. >> reporter: the answer is to have a lot of faith? taken in 1950? she is the matriarch of five living generations. her husband lived in 95. she later moved to the suburbs of detroit, michigan, where she's lived for almost 80 years. she said she has always lived life with this outlook. >> do on unto others as you desire them to do to you. >> reporter: the golden rule. ♪ the lord has been good to me >> reporter: church has always been part of geraldine's life.

as the baptist church, the entrance road is named after her. her pastor says religious leaders receive many honors. >> but god only blessed with one pastor, to pastor the oldest person in the united states and that's me. i'm grateful for that. >> reporter: while she credits her faith for her longevity, she always says the outdoors keeps her inspired. do you like fishing? >> i may go this year. i don't know. >> reporter: you may go fishing this year? >> i don't know what do you catch? what kind of fish do you like? >> trouts and catfish. >> reporter: she has also won athletic awards. >> i bowled until i was 104. >> reporter: you bowled until you were 104 years old? and i was 104 and i said, this is my last bowl and i bowled 200. >> reporter: you bowled a 200 when you were 104 years old?

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risk free for 60 days plus get a $30 multi-device charger, free. enrollment takes just minutes. your protection starts immediately. call the number on your screen or go to lifelock.com/easy. ♪ it is too much too soon, that's what our next guest says about new rules that make school lunches healthier. they delayed new nutrition requirements giving school districts another year to figure out how to pay for them. let's talk to the congressman from alabama, chairman of the house committee that voted to give some schools a waiver. congressman, thank you very much for coming in. i want to ask you point blank the argument you heard a lot of democrats make. kids are throwing out healthy food and that school districts, some of them, can't even afford

it. but isn't it the job of grownups to push kids to do the things they don't want to do? they may not want to take math, science, do homework, but they don't get a waiver. >> there's one thing missing here. one thing we agree on, there should be healthy food overall in schools. the school nutritionists are in charge of providing the lunchroom meals every day. i have talked to them. they want to provide a healthy lunch. what they're objecting to and what the problem is is these overreaching standards by the united states department of agriculture that are coming down on them, and they're so onerous, they're unable to meet the standards. let me just give you an example. a hard boiled egg is considered too much fat. over 12 ounces of skim milk is too much fat. the salt is so limited they're not even able to use salt shakers or ketchup dispensers in the lunchroom. it is becoming such a problem that the lunch workers are not

able to provide really lunches that have any taste. the weight requirements are going up. i don't know if you tried to eat a biscuit from 100% whole wheat, but they're not very tasty. we are trying to make some reasonable -- we're not saying go back to, i am not sure i say go back, i am not sure there was a time you fed hamburger and pizza every day to kids, we're not talk bougt doing that, not talking about eating snickers and m and ms for dessert and pizza and hot dogs for lunch every day, we're talking about having balance and common sense in the rules, and right now, that's not what we're having. >> i cover congress, i see you in the hallway there sometimes. i am familiar with how washington works. let's face it, sometimes things change because there's a powerful industry behind it. how much pressure are you getting from lobbyists who benefit financially from having these nonhealthy foods in kids' schools? >> zero. i have not even talked with --

people i talked to are people that worked in the lunchroom. i don't even know what industry it is that would be behind this. >> the first lady, as you know, is suggesting that's what this is. >> absolutely. and every time she says it i scratch my head, and i am not sure who she's talking about. i'm talking to lunch ladies and school nutrionists out there in the lunchroom every day. for my home county, a lady by the name of evelyn hicks came to me about two years ago, said i want to cook some good food, healthy food that the kids look forward to coming to every day. these restrictions are so limiting, my hands are tied so much, i can't provide it. the kids are throwing the food away. the participates in the lunch program is going down, the cost is going up because they can't buy in bulk any more, and it is a shame to see the regulations coercing other kids now to bring their lunch. the lunches they're bringing, they're bringing mcdonald's and burger king to school. it is defeating the purpose.

what we're doing is saying let's not actually throw away all of those, let's work the legislation that i propose is only saying that we give the schools that are having a hard time meeting the standard, that because of economic reasons, give them 12 months. we're not asking they roll back the entire thing, just a waiver. >> what's it like to go up against the first lady of the united states, especially somebody who is incredibly popular on something she has made her passionate major issue? >> well, i would love to sit down with her and talk with her about it. she of course has not reached out at this point, but i would love to sit down with her, and more than just me sit down with her, i would like to bring people that work in the lunch rooms who have the best interest of the kids in mind. they're not there trying to make the kids obese or unhealthy. they're moms and grandmothers that work there and want to provide healthy, good food for kids and just need a little flexibility.

they're being regulated from washington to the extent their hands are tied, and they're saying just give us flexibility. that's all my legislation does, give a 12 month waiver for the school lunch programs to have a little bit of wiggle room. they can make nice, healthy meals for the kids. >> congressman, maybe somebody from the first lady's office is watching and maybe we can create a summit or spur one on the program. >> i have some great ladies i would love for her to meet. >> thank you very much, appreciate you coming in. the next hour of newsroom begins after a short break. captain: this is a tip. bellman: thanks, captain obvious. captain: and here's a tip. when you save money on hotel rooms, it's just like saving money on anything else that costs money. like shoes, textiles, foreign investments, spatulas, bounty hunters, javelins...

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hello, i am dana bash in for fredricka whitfield. here are the top stories we are following in the cnn newsroom. a new bombshell surrounding the sale of the nba's l.a. clippers. the team owner donald sterling is suing the nba for $1 billion. sterling's lawsuit claims the nba has no right to force sale of the clippers, and terminating his ownership is unconstitutional and in breach of contract. this comes just as the debate over his mental state intensifies. his wife shelly agreeing to sell the team for $2 billion to

former microsoft ceo steven ballmer. $2 billion, wow. >> it is more than people thought the team would go for. you have to look at the context, dana. a month ago, milwaukee bucks was sold. now steve is offering three and a half times what forbes magazine thought the value of the clippers were, about 575 million. bid at $2 billion. what we know now is other owners are looking at the value of their teams and probably re-evaluating. >> reporter: a $2 billion bid for a basketball team smashes records, but what's the former microsoft mogul getting for all of that money? >> the team better on the court today than the los angeles lakers with a great lease at the staples center and new up side television deal he is about to negotiate in los angeles. >> reporter: future tv deals, local and national, could bring

in close to another 100 million a year by some estimates, which is a lot, but not the big picture. >> in the first few years, profits are going to be very minimal. this isn't something he's buying principally because he wants to make money. this is someone who is going to take 10% of their net worth and they're going to buy a sports team in l.a., which is going to give them a lot of prestige. >> reporter: for $2 billion, there's plenty of prestige, a way for the wealthy to diversify investments, and with a salary cap in place, nba owners can be protected from dipping into their own pockets. >> steve ballmer knows if he runs the team somewhat prudently, he won't have to put capital into the team. in january, forbes' list of nba team values ranked the clippers 13th, with an estimated worth of $575 million. their potential sale price was

estimated around $1 billion once donald sterling's racist rant was revealed. >> the nba should trip over itself, get the documents done, approve this transaction, and move on to other business just as fast as humanly possible. >> reporter: the $2 billion price tag could help send the values of some of the league's most valuable franchises soaring. >> i don't think you'll be able to buy a big market nba team for less than $3 billion. >> reporter: for right now, $2 billion is a blockbuster number for the nba. yet it isn't a record in u.s. sports history. the l.a. dodgers sold in 2012 for $2.1 billion. for this sale to go through with the clippers, other nba owners still need to vote to approve the sale, but you can bet they'll see some incentive in that number as it can only help raise the value of their teams. >> cha ching comes to mind. thank you, alexandra field. moving to a war torn country

and terrifying development. a suicide bomber was identified as a u.s. citizen, the first american suicide bomber in syria. what have we learned about this man. >> reporter: they believe he grew up in florida, that he went to school there. they're not divulging when he may have returned to syria. his pseudonym, the american. while u.s. officials are really worried about this disturbing development, what they're more worried about are the american fighters that may be in syria now that could possibly return to the u.s. and plot attacks thereafter. this deadly explosion, thousands of miles away is now being blamed on this man, an american

citizen. state department officials -- the man grew up and went to school in florida. officials won't say when he went to syria or why. but they believe he is responsible for packing 17 tons of explosives into a vehicle and blowing it up, becoming the first american suicide bomber in syria. experts say he may not be the only american training for such a deadly attack. >> you go there, you meet a lot of hardcore al qaeda types if you're associated with these groups, they indoctrinate you further. based on previous examples, of afghan against the soviets, and bombing the world trade center and other veterans planned 9/11 attacks, people are very concerned. they have reason to be. >> reporter: analysts say at least 100 flooded to syria since the start of the civil war. u.s. officials fear many more may be joining a bloody battle,

getting expert training how to plot attacks once back in the u.s. >> syria remains a significant destination for home grown violent extremist population. >> reporter: more frightening, sources say, it is a group that's becoming increasingly difficult to track. >> there isn't a single easily identifiable community from which syria travelers all spring from. very diverse group. they are of both genders. when you put them all together, they look like america. >> reporter: dana, another reason u.s. officials are so concerned, they're saying there are networks much recruiters trying to ensure that americans get to syria, fight alongside al qaeda. they want to try to shut the networks down. they're very concerned about this. if there are american jihadis there, they're learning from seasoned terrorist al qaeda types, and they worry about them coming back to the u.s. and plotting attacks on the home land from here.

dana? >> muhammad jamjoon, thank you for that report. the search is on for a leader to replace eric shinseki at the va. his final speech at the veteran's affairs friday, he said he was shocked at the widespread quote lack of integrity inside his department. the department accused of secret or doctored waiting lists, harassment and bullying to cover long waiting times and simply ignoring hundreds and hundreds of veterans whose names never got into the appointment systems. who is going to fix it all? let's talk to erin mcpike who is following this story. noi it is early, and hard to krakt code in the building behind you. what are you hearing about who is going to replace eric shinseki at the va. >> reporter: a white house official told us just yesterday that there is no short list, and that of course is part of why the transition moving away from shinseki took so long. the question is, is a veteran a

good idea who understands the plight of other veterans or maybe a health care executive because health care is such an important part of the va. we did get a statement yesterday from the group the iraq and afghanistan veterans of america, and they, of course, would like to see a veteran of one of those wars put in place. there's such an influx of veterans in the system now, that's what they would like to see. but any names that we're hearing right now are mere speculation. we want to underscore that point because i saw one list this morning naming general stanley mcchrystal, but i think it is doubtful we would see one ousted four star general replace another ousted four star general, that by the way president obama himself got rid of. the other point i would make is in the president's remarks, he pointed to wanting a managerial fix it type to come in and fix the problems there now are in the va and have been going on for so long, and one last point

i would make, dana, over the last couple weeks we have been hearing from a number of people about this idea that generals are used to taking orders and having people follow orders, carrying out missions, and it might not be necessarily a good fit for bureaucracy. >> erin, thank you very much. appreciate it. this is not an easy task. there's no question about that. you're going to want to be with us tomorrow morning. on cnn state of the union, national security adviser susan rice will return to the show. she was heavily criticized in 2012, then she was u.s. ambassador to the u.n. and said the attack on the consulate in benghazi was due to an anti-muslim video. that's the issue that sparked all of the controversy, the political divide over what exactly happened inside the white house, who knew what, when. susan rice on cnn state of the union tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m., noon eastern. a decorated and retired four star general is exiting the va

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how to fix the va system will be job number one for the interim secretary of veteran's affairs. retired four star jenner i can shinseki resigned as secretary after pressure kept building over seething allegations that hundreds of veterans in phoenix and elsewhere were waiting 100 days and more. members of congress called for his resignation and several veterans groups, but not all of them. joining me is a retired marine corps sergeant, national

legislative director for disabled american veterans. thank you for joining us. he resigned. you didn't think that's the problem to begin with. why is that? >> well, secretary shinseki has done quite a bit during his time at va, made some drastic changes necessary, improved claims processing, reduced backlog. he is reducing the number of homeless veterans on the street, he made it easier access for women veterans to get into va. there are many things that he has done and we felt confident in his ability to turn the situation around. >> as you well know, because you're legislative director, you know how washington works. sometimes you can't fight a tsunami against you politically, but this is an issue where problems date back very far, back to 2003, even earlier than that. you don't think he should be forced out. do you think he was a scapegoat? >> you know, it is unfortunate. i think it became a political issue, and he was the lightning

rod that was attracting all of the attention. i'm not sure if he had any other choice or the president had a choice. unfortunately, i think we need to move forward, we need to find someone to fill that gap quickly and someone who has unfettered access to the president, who is able to avoid the encounters at office of management and budget to get a realistic va budget. >> is that the problem, is it the budget or is it the fact that as you said, it is not necessarily the top, it is everybody in the middle who have been given financial incentives to cook the books, have really just done a disservice to veterans because of the pressures on them about the way the system works. >> the budget is part of it. i think as you said, it goes back to 2003 when presidential commission found mismatch

between the demand and the budget and also found a wait list, 236,000 veterans waiting six months or more. there are other problems that need to be addressed. congress needs to provide ov oversight to be sure the money is properly spent. >> thank you very much for coming in and giving that perspective. >> thank you. they're still trying to make sense out of last week's killing spree in california, but it is part of a growing trend of privileged men becoming killers, or is it? some people are talking about it. that's up next. of complete darkness. i am totally blind. i've been blind since birth. i lost my sight to eye disease. i lost my sight in afghanistan.

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it has been one week since the shooting and stabbing spree killed six people in california. there are so many questions about the killer and growing pattern of mass shootings. angry white males at the trigger. ted rowlands has the investigation. >> i will destroy you. ha-ha-ha. >> reporter: the 22-year-old shooter, elliot rodger, joins a disturbing group of young male rampage killers that have a lot in common. sandy hook killer adam lanz a,

james holmes, the columbine killers, and injury odd lauf ner from the tucson massacre were late teens to mid-20s at the time of the shootings, all grew up in relatively stable environments, except the columbine shooters attended some college and all of them had mental health issues. >> they come from a world where they're cared for, nurtured, they have resources, they're protected. >> reporter: ph.d. psychologist james gaber even oh spent 20 years studying and writing about them, wrote "lost boys", why our sons turn violent. he believes one of the reasons the vast majority of rampage killers in the u.s. are young white men is because their mental illness is mixed with an inflated ego. >> the environment that they're in and the narcissism that they experience, all of na

predisposes them to take on vendettas against their perceived enemies. >> i don't know what you don't see in me. i'm the perfect guy. >> the same condition in a kid that's living in a poor neighborhood, living with gangs, living with abuse, living with poverty and deprivation, they do the same but aimed as an individual, not abstractly at society in general. >> reporter: he believes white young men suffering from mental illness are kept afloat longer because of a more supportive environment which allows the delusional anger and frustration to grow, which seems to be true with elliot rodger, according to a family friend. >> he had been fooling them for many years. the shame is in the end, no one could rescue what happened on friday night. and what these boys who go out to kill don't understand is that when they murder one, they

murder many because they don't just kill the people that lie dead on the streets or in apartments or galleries or in cinemas, they kill thousands and thousands of others who are connected to those. >> reporter: sad lee, gar bar even oh believes there are more of these young men out there, and until something is done to prevent people struggling with mental illness from obtaining guns, we should all expect the rampages will continue. ted rowlands, cnn, chicago. just ahead, our legal guys look at donald sterling and his case against the nba. can he keep his team? and cnn's special summer series, the '60s, continues this week. we will look at the beginning of the cold war. >> early on in the '60s, you have this backdrop of tension, you have capitalism versus communism, and there was palpable fear in the united states and in the soviet union that the two sides were going to

get into a nuclear war. >> the temper of the world is crisis. architect of the crisis, cruise chef. >> he was ideological. he believed the future belonged to communism. he said america needs to be contained and the only way to do it is to create crises all around the american empire. >> you can watch that entire episode, the world on the brink, thursday night at 9:00 here on cnn. honestly, the off-season isn't i've got a lot to do. that's why i got my surface. it's great for watching game film and drawing up plays. it's got onenote, so i can stay on top of my to-do list, which has been absolutely absurd since the big game.

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questions about last week's killing spree, but the pictures are becoming clear. stephanie eel and shows us what she learned. >> reporter: they're about to leave the sorority to walk uptown. >> i can't have you girls, i will destroy you. ha-ha-ha. >> reporter: some ten blocks away, at 9:17 p.m., a 22-year-old, elliot rodger, is posting a seven minute video on youtube. it is the final warning of a sinister plan to get revenge on women for a lifetime of rejection. >> i am going to enter the hottest sorority house of ucsb and i will slaughter every single spoiled stuck up blonde [bleep] i see inside there. >> reporter: this is the chosen

sorority, as he bangs on the front door, his parents are headed to isla vista in a frantic search to stop the bloodshed. by now, they've seen the youtube and 137 diatribe, e-mailed by their son. at the sorority, no one opens the door for him. at 9:27, he turns to a group of women, walking to town. he opens fire, killing them both. a third woman is critically injured. >> there was a young girl laying right here. and i could tell immediately she was gone. >> reporter: kyle sullivan rushes to the girls' side, flags down a nearby officer. >> then i asked the police officer if we were safe staying here, just because of, you know, that there was a person driving around shooting people, and he said yeah, that we were okay, but then literally 20 seconds after that, we heard the next shots. >> shot fired, shot fired.

>> reporter: blocks away, rodger is opening fire on the deli. surveillance video captures it. a 22-year-old is hit, the third known victim of the rampage. and it is still not over. rodger is firing randomly at people all over isla vista, turns his black bmw into a weapon, swerving to hit pedestrians, one of 13 people injured in the mayhem. a gunbattle with police ends here with a bullet in rodger's head. after an eight minute rampage, rodger's final shot takes his own life. at 10:11:00 p.m., his therapist alerts police of the diatribe for the first time. when they arrive at the apartment, they find the bodies of roommates, and a visitor. all three were stabbed to death. within hours, the community starts to pull together, and within days, the victims' families begin to speak out.

>> try to be nice to everybody, i don't understand why this happened to me. >> she would have tried to help him and she would have tried to be friends to him. >> reporter: but as the father of christopher martinez who takes aim as gun control. >> my kid died because nobody responded to what occurred at sandy hook. >> reporter: one of three stores where rodger made legal gun buys goes on the defensive. >> what about the guy that sold knives or swords, what about the guy that sold him the car he was in driving around, hitting people. do they feel that? >> reporter: for their part, rodger's family speaks out through a family friend. >> the feeling of knowing it is our son's actions that caused the tragedy can only be described as hell upon earth. >> reporter: in isla vista, one week later, the focus remains on the victims. six innocent lives lost, 13 changed forever. as one parent said, quote, let hatred be gone with the wind. stephanie elam, cnn, los

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spatulas, bounty hunters, javelins... breaking news. we learned u.s. army sergeant in captivity in afghanistan for about five years, almost five years, was released by the taliban. the president in an official statement just sent it out from the white house. some good news for the president certainly to get out there on an issue that has been absolutely horrifying. pentagon correspondent barbara starr joins me on the phone. barbara, i'm reading through the statement that the president put out. i notice that he said that he was recovered. what does that tell you about how this actually took place? >> reporter: dana, we are awaiting at this hour details from the pentagon, from the white house, but i have spoke

tone a senior administration official who says at this point what this official can tell us is it was a transfer. that is his word. he cannot say at this point whether the u.s. returned or afghanistan returned any taliban prisoners, any detainees perhaps at guantanamo bay back to the taliban. no one is saying that at this point to be clear, but this official telling me bo burgdall is out, his family has been notified the young man is in u.s. hands and that the operation is being called a transfer. in the statement from the white house we see the president acknowledging his, quote, deepest appreciation to the emir of qatar. the emir and the qatari government have long been

involved behind the scenes negotiating with the taliban, talking to them, seeing if there is any way they can facilitate some transfer. i just got an additional information as i am talking to you. his family was informed a few hours ago by president obama that he is out and under the care of the u.s. military, after being handed over by his captors we are told in afghanistan. we long believed he was held in pakistan, this is an indication somehow he was transferred from pakistan into afghanistan, then turned over to the u.s. military. the official information we are getting as i am talking to you is that he will, quote, be given all the support he needs to help

him recover. in addition, as i am reading to be very clear with everyone, we are getting additional information right now. a statement will be coming from defense secretary chuck hagel shortly that five detainees from guantanamo bay have been transferred to qatar. of course, the president publicly acknowledging qatar's involvement in this, a small persian gulf nation working this issue for some time. secretary of defense chuck hagel will say that this transfer has happened and that the united states will be closely coordinating with qatar to ensure that the detainees from guantanamo bay are held in secure conditions and overseen by the government of qatar. so this has been in the works for some time.

this was the general construct that everybody had been looking for to send the five detainees back and to get bergdall out. it now looks like that's exactly what has happened. >> i know how it is to get information while you're on air, getting information that this was a prisoner swap. >> reporter: that's what it looks like, as i am reading my blackberry on the air with you, a very senior official is telling me this statement about this transfer of guantanamo detainees is about to come from chuck hagel very soon. >> to remind viewers what we are talking about, bowe bergdahl held since 2009, believed held captive by the taliban in afghanistan. i want to ask about the timing.

you know these issues better than anybody, given the fact last week the president made a big announcement with regard to afghanistan and u.s. presence there. do you think there may be any connection knowing the way things work behind the scenes. >> reporter: sure, dana. i think what's happening, as it becomes clear to the world that the u.s. presence is winding down in afghanistan rapidly now, the fate of bowe bergdahl was on the mind of the military, now reaching crisis stages. if they were going to leave afghanistan in the coming months, they certainly didn't want to leave him behind. with no u.s. troops there, there was very little way to get him out. i think they resolved that. the pressure the military felt to get this resolved certainly had been growing. i think one of the interesting

things now is what will happen to him. the military has to decide how to process him. what do they want to do with him now. we talked to a number of officials about this over the months. they behind the scenes, it is a very delicate matter. the accounts are that five years ago almost he basically walked out of his base in eastern afghanistan, was kidnapped, but he walked away. we do not know his exact side of the story, of course. the question is if this young soldier for some reason left his base unauthorized, walked away from his duty station, would he face discipline after everything he has been through. i have to tell you behind the scenes, a number of senior military officials have said for the last several months they don't want to put this young man through it.

their view is get him back to his family, get him help, get him recovery, discharge him from the army, and let him try and reconstruct his life. this will be an issue perhaps that president obama may have to decide for himself as commander in chief, what happens to bowe bergdahl now. the word we get is he is in u.s. hands. they're trying to get him all the medical help he could possibly need, and that of course is exactly the right thing. >> the first priority. no question. barbara, stand by for a second. we have erin mcpike at the white house where the formal, official statement came out in the name of the president. erin, what are you hearing beyond the statement about what white house officials say about how this happened? >> reporter: dana, we're not getting much beyond the statement at this point. there was some talk there would be a briefing. at this point there doesn't look like there might be. that could obviously change.

you were talking to barbara that the president expressed his appreciation for qatar. he also did the same for afghanistan, as you know. president obama went to afghanistan, made a surprise visit for memorial day weekend. he sort of eludes to that in the statement, he also says the united states remains committed to supporting an afghan led reconciliation process as the surest way to achieve a stable, secure, sovereign, unified afghanistan. while we are mindful of the challenges, it is our hope sergeant bergdahl's recovery could open the door for broader discussion about the future of their country, building confidence it is possible for all sides to find common ground. once we get more from the white house, we will obviously bring that to you. >> absolutely, erin, thank you so much. want to go back to barbara, still on the phone with us. barbara, you know, we certainly think about and heard a lot about the fact that this man was in captivity almost five years,

but people might not know how common this is, how uncommon this is. in today's day and age, in today's war zones -- >> reporter: this for five years has been an extraordinary event, dana. it doesn't happen. and that's i think why the military is going to be so anxious when he is able to talk about what happened to him, to hear right from bowe bergdahl what happened. military people in war zones in iraq and afghanistan, frankly they're never really on their own, they're always with a battle buddy, in a convoy, with other vehicles, with other troops. they don't go outside the wire in places like eastern afghanistan, which are full of taliban. there's been a lot of stories over the years, and they are at

this point just stories about why and how bowe bergdahl came to leave his camp that day, and how he got taken. and until we now almost five years later hear from him, none of us really know. there has been just heart breaking videos, a couple in the last couple years, where the taliban have, you know, allowed him to speak to cameras, somewhat as proof of life for the united states, and for his parents, of course, and we'll get some of that videotape out to our viewers, i'm sure, so they can be reminded of the circumstances he was in, and he was -- it would just break your heart. he would look into the camera, and beg people basically to help him, to come get him. his father, the family is from idaho, his parents live there to this day, his father just

reminding people in social media, public appearances, any way and shape he could to please not forget his son, even this memorial day a couple days ago, there were people out and about reminding people that bowe bergdahl was out there. whatever circumstances led this young man to leave his camp, whatever circumstances happened that night back five years ago in eastern afghanistan, this young soldier, you know, truly has been through hell in the captivity of the taliban. now he is free. we are trying to determine where they will take him next, will he be brought back to the united states directly, are his parents on the way to meet him, we don't know that. one of the places that of course we have seen so many troops go over the years is to the regional medical center in germany. this is a military medical center that has treated thousands of wounded coming out

of the war zone, but they also have a highly specialized expertise there in essentially hostage trauma, helping people who have been taken hostage over the years for political and military reasons, reintegrating them into society. i suspect, i do not know, but i suspect he will be -- his first stop will be lunge stool for a medical check, to debrief him when he is able to talk. we see families join their young troops there. >> and the human aspect of this is something you can't even wrap your mind around. i want to go back to something you reported to underscore for our viewers about how we believe this happened based on what you're hearing from your sources which is that you said that five detainees are being transferred

out of guantanamo, and about sort of the politics of that, and reading between the lines and what that might mean for how this whole thing went down. >> reporter: well, the president is going to have his hands full which secretary of defense chuck hagel, discussing all of this with congress, because this transfer of five detainees had been an idea on the table for some time. it had gone back and forth, the talks had broken down. sources were denying there were even talks to begin with. but make no mistake, the mission of releasing five detainees from guantanamo bay has been very much on the table. it was going to require the taliban making promises that the u.s. was not sure the taliban really meant. but there's been a lot of -- you're right, dana, there's been a lot of opposition to the whole idea from congress, there are many in congress that thought

this is a dangerous line to cross, that you can't release in their view detainees at guantanamo bay, that you're entering into negotiation with the taliban. it's a proposal, an idea that's been under a lot, lot of criticism. >> no question. it is a slippery slope, they argue. >> reporter: the president has his hands full with democrats and republicans, but clearly the white house made a calculation with the war winding down, with u.s. troops coming out of afghanistan, with no other way to get him that this was their best option to get the young american soldier back home. >> absolutely. as we say, there's going to be a lot of debate whether this is a slippery slope, negotiating with terrorists, about terrorists for release of hostages. stand by for a minute, if you will, barbara. i want to bring in our national security analyst peter bergen who understands the taliban, met and interviewed osama bin laden.

peter, what is your perspective on what this means that this army sergeant was released from captivity, after almost five years, and the circumstances around it. >> dana, it has been a long time coming, and good news for the bergdahl family and the u.s. army to have the only american pow get finally released. on the issue of negotiating with terrorists, the fact is the israelis will release several hundred palestinian militants or terrorists in exchange for one israeli soldier. it is not like the united states is alone making some exceptions for people who are serving in the military. there are other americans who are not soldiers, there's a guy called weinstein taken by al qaeda in pakistan a few years

back, and he is now in his early 70s. we have seen a video from him. it is hard to think the u.s. would engage in some kind of negotiation, unfortunately, to get him out of captivity, but this negotiation has been on the table as barbara pointed out for a long time, the kind of terms of the negotiation have been well known. basically relatively senior taliban leaders in guantanamo to be released for bowe bergdahl and that has happened. the negotiations had its ups and downs but finally it has happened and it has been done through the qatari government. there's a taliban presence in qatar, there was a formal taliban office there for some period of time, which was closed down because of pressure from the afghan government, but they continue to have a taliban kind of presence in qatar for these kinds of negotiations. and finally this has happened. >> and again, knowing the

region, knowing these issues, knowing the relationship or lack thereof, what do you make of the fact he was held for nearly five years and he was the only one who was held, and what the goal was beyond the obvious? >> well, the goal, what happened which made it more complicated for all concerned, dana, not only was he captured by the taliban, he was captured and held by a network which isn't based in afghanistan, it is based on the border in pakistan, has a presence in eastern afghanistan, and this is by far the most militant and arguably successful part of the taliban, it's launched major terror attacks in kabul on restaurants, indian embassy. it has been by far the most effective fighting force fighting the u.s. military, and of course this is why, you know, this deal is particularly controversial potentially in

u.s. military circles because that network is not just the taliban but the most veer length taliban network. this was not easy negotiation. my guess is, informed guess, not just a guess, the five leaders released from guantanamo, there will be some condition about where they're released and how they're released to. i'm fairly certain perhaps going to qatar, an oil rich state in the gulf, where they will be under some form of surveillance by the qatari authorities. i would find it hard to believe they can go back to pakistan or afghanistan. there will certainly be conditionality i would think. >> peter, thank you very much

for your insight. we are covering breaking news of the remarkable news of the release of a soldier held captive by the taliban for nearly five years in announcement made by the president himself from the white house about this release. more after the break. ♪ norfolk southern what's your function? ♪ ♪ hooking up the country helping business run ♪ ♪ build! we're investing big to keep our country in the lead. ♪ load! we keep moving to deliver what you need. and that means growth, lots of cargo

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fredricka whitfield. breaking news. an american soldier held in afghanistan for nearly five years is being released. sergeant bowe bergdahl is coming home. pentagon correspondent barbara starr is joining us on the phone, has been giving us the breaking details. you have more information, barbara. what can you tell us? >> reporter: we do, dana. we now have some very dramatic details of the very moments about how this happened. we are now being told it was about 10:30 this morning, east coast time, when u.s. special forces recovered sergeant bowe bergdahl from his captors. the handover peaceful, happened in eastern afghanistan along the border. u.s. special forces conducted the rescue, but here's what i want to tell you, and this is just bone chilling. we are told that once bowe bergdahl was on the helicopter,

it was so noisy, he wrote on a paper plate, he couldn't talk because it was so noisy. he wrote on a paper plate the initials sf with a question mark. sf, meaning of course special forces, the operators, soldiers sitting with bergdahl on the helicopter ride to freedom loudly responded saying yes, we've been looking for you for a long time. we are told this is what happened. we are told at that point when other special forces troops said we have been looking for you for a long time that bergdahl broke down crying. those words coming to us from a u.s. senior official who received the initial briefing on moments of the release. the official also reiterating that the five detainees who will be released from guantanamo to the qataris, the u.s. has assurance from the qataris, they will be secured, under a travel

ban for a year. again, this transfer, the ride to freedom for bowe bergdahl happened peacefully we are told. there were approximately 18 taliban on the site. the u.s. still believes, this is quite interesting, that bergdahl was held most of the time across the border in pakistan. nobody is really sure yet when he was moved to afghanistan, how he was moved, and the first sign he was about to be released. we are told most of all of this really is due to the efforts of the qatari government. that serious talks for the transfer of those gitmo detainees back to the qataris happened a couple weeks ago, really started happening then that this all got moving. pardon me, we're getting a lot of information as i'm talking to

you, dana. we are also finding out that bowe bergdahl's parents still were in washington, they had happened to come in for the memorial day holiday weekend, that they were still here. we believe president obama informed them while they were still here. at this hour, where is bowe bergdahl, he is at an undisclosed operating base at a forward location in afghanistan. he is going to remain there we are told until the doctors feel he can travel a little bit further. he will move on to bagram, major air base in afghanistan, where and howl he will be reunited wih his parents. it all started this last week, don't know how much he talked about it during a trip to afghanistan, but this really got rolling the last several days. >> barbara, wow.

that's all i have to say. i want to go back and repeat for viewers the dramatic story you just told us. i have to say, sounds like an episode of "homeland." hard to believe this is something that actually happened. if you don't mind, go back, tell the story of what your sources explained happened between bowe bergdahl and the special forces who rescued him. >> reporter: dana, as you can expect, it would be -- everyone in the modern world of 13 years of war understands when there's some, you know, potentially extremely dangerous mission to conduct, it is done by u.s. commandos, done by u.s. special forces, flying in on helicopters. it is a dangerous area to pick up bowe bergdahl. there were 18 taliban waiting for them on the ground with bowe

bergdahl. they got him, the transfer happened peacefully by all accounts, and they could put him of course on the helicopter to get him back into u.s. hands as fast as they could. these helicopters are so noisy, we've all been on them in war zones, you can't talk. you use hand gestures. eye signals. that's the thing to communicate. bergdahl couldn't talk to these guys. he knew they were americans obviously, but being an army soldier, he wrote on a piece of paper, a paper plate, because it was too loud to talk. he wrote the initials sf with a question mark, meaning special forces. after five years in captivity, he's still very much understood by all accounts, it would be special forces that were the men picking him up out of captivity. we are told the commandos on the

helicopter responded loudly saying yes, we've been looking for you for a long time. at that time we were told bowe bergdahl broke down crying, understandable. i think it is quite extraordinary that even in this moment, he thought as a soldier obviously, he wanted to know who these guys were, and he clearly understood that it was u.s. special forces coming to take him on that ride to freedom. >> absolutely. how absolutely bone chilling as you said that story. and do you have a sense again, just to update viewers of what next for him, where he goes now? >> reporter: right. well, there are still, even with the draw down of u.s. forces, there are a number of forward operating bases in eastern afghanistan. they all have actually -- we have been to them, they have good medical facilities so they can treat injured and wounded troops. we are told he is at this hour back at one of those, getting

obviously a thorough medical check. at that point he will be transferred to the air base where president obama was a few days ago. they have a complete medical hospital there. the expectation is that as soon as he is able to travel further and that will be some plane ride to be on, he will be taken to the regional medical center in germany. that also a very competent military medical hospital, but they have an additional expertise in helping people reintegrate into society, people who have been taken hostage, for political or military reasons. we have seen it many times over the years, if my memory serves,

i believe hostages out of iran so many years ago made their first stop there, troops taken hostage in the gulf war made their first stop at long stool. they have the teams and can fly in teams quickly with that kind of expertise in helping people past this trauma. what we don't know just yet is where his parents will get to him. given the security there, it is more likely that they will meet him at landstuhl. >> excellent reporting. stand by. want to bring in cnn analyst james spider marks joining us on the phone.

spider marks, your general reaction to this? dana, isn't it wonderful, and barbara's reporting as always is magnificent. it is such a magnificent story from top to bottom, it speaks about the united states' focus never leaving a fallen comrade behind, the persistence of this incredible soldier that hung with it for five years, the tremendous training and execution of the sf soldiers to do this transaction in a peaceful, nonhostile way. that's like brain surgery on a bouncing ship. this is counter intuitive and they do it magnificently. it is a wonderful story across the board. and i tell you, there will be cynics that say we don't negotiate with terrorists. this is nothing but a wonderful news story, as an intelligence guy, i have to tell you, these taliban that are going to end up under certain conditions rather

restrictive in qatar, we will have a great opportunity to watch them closely over the course of the next year to ensure their reintegration is as perfect conditions laid down. across the board, this is a magnificent, wonderful story, and speaks to the resilience and focus and professionalism of the military. thank goodness our administration hung tough with this. >> certainly is, isn't it nice to report good stories in war zones. i want to circle back to what you said about the idea of cynics say you don't negotiate with terrorists. peter bergen made a point that israel deals with terrorism every day on its own soil does prisoner swaps a lot. so it is not unheard of for democracies to do such a thing. i also want to ask you about the incredible choreography that went on here based on barbara's reporting that there were five prisoners released from guantanamo bay, given to qataris

who according to barbara's reporting, promise they won't be released for at least a year. what do you make of that, especially as you said, as an intelligence guy, peel back the curtain. how does this kind of thing happen behind the scenes? >> no, it reads very much like a novel. clearly the five were identified, the taliban identified, this was not random, this was pick five guys off the shelf and we will return these folks, these are identified by the taliban. we understood the level of activity and involvement. there's a reason they were at gitmo. they're not squeaky clean guys. the taliban came forward. we agreed there was intelligence we derived from these guys, we realized we could release them from gitmo without enhanced risk, based on the conditions you and barbara described so adequately and peter addressed earlier. they will end up in qatar and they will be watched, they will

be followed and watched and surveilled. we will have opportunity to ensure, we can trust but we will verify that everything agreed to will be followed. >> i want you to hold on, we read a statement we got in from the defense secretary, chuck hagel. it reads in part sergeant bergdahl is now under the care of the u.s. military after being handed over by his captors in afghanistan. we will give him all the support he needs to help him recover from this ordeal, and we are grateful that he will soon be reunited with his family, and he goes on to talk about the fact that he informed congress about the decision, and again, as we were talking about, that the u.s. coordinated closely with qatar to ensure that security measures are in place and that like the president thanked the emir of qatar helping do the swap. general marks, just again, let's look at this from a human perspective. to be in the military, to know

the incredible risks, whatever the story is, however this captivity happened, capture happened, the idea that the u.s. went to any lengths such as we're learning about now to get a pow back after nearly five years, just gives you the chills. >> it really does. if that doesn't take your breath away, i don't know what does. this is truly a tribute to the professionalism of our military across the board. and again, put a personal face on this thing. here is a young noncommissioned officer who stayed tough and resilient for five years. you've got to be kidding me, for five years this young man was able to maintain his focus and persistence on trying to do the right thing, and he did. at the end of the day, you've got a grateful nation embracing him. clearly there will be tough times ahead. he is going to have to get himself medically and physically checked out, make sure he's a okay for return to active duty,

but he is in the arms of his brothers now, and will be in the arms of his family closely, shortly, and it will be great. >> and again, as an intelligence guy as you called yourself, what about debriefing him? i mean, obviously he has been in the presence of the taliban members for years. you know, clearly there are things that perhaps the u.s. could learn. >> oh, a lot. you got it, dana. he will be put through a very, very aggressive -- it will be at his pace. he will be able to determine how much he can take and when he can take it, but they're going to want, our intelligence folks are going to want to debrief this young man in great detail. it will be very linear. very progressive. it won't be all over the map as we say. we will be able to take it start to finish, allow him to tell his story. we can start filling in some gaps in terms of taliban

operating procedures, what his movements looked like. he will be able to describe in detail not only his captors but his circumstances, and this will come back to him over the course of time in greater and greater detail. it will be very valuable information that we'll be able to use clearly. >> general marks, thank you so much for your insight. barbara starr as well. we're taking a short break. when we come back, imagine being the parents of a man who has been held captive nearly five years. what do they have to say. stay with us. hey. i'm ted and this is rudy. say "hi" rudy. [ barks ] [ chuckles ] i'd do anything to keep this guy happy and healthy. that's why i'm so excited about these new milk-bone brushing chews. whoa, i'm not the only one.

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this is worth talking about. little things, anyone can do. it steals your memories. your independence. insures support. a breakthrough. and sooner than you'd like... ...sooner than you think. ...you die from alzheimer's disease. ...we cure alzheimer's disease. every little click, call, or donation adds up to something big. alzheimer's association. the brains behind saving yours. welcome back. we are following breaking news, a good news story. that's a former pow, released after nearly five years after taken hostage by the taliban. our barbara starr has been doing some excellent reporting on this, keeping us up to speed.

barbara, you have from his pare. >> reporter: indeed. sergeant bowe bergdahl's parents just released this statement. let me read part of it to everyone. they say, quote, we were so joyful and relieved from president obama called us today to give us this news that bowe is finally coming home. we cannot wait to wrap our arms around our only son. they go on to thank everyone. they say they are ecstatic to say the least. one can only imagine, they have been trying everything they can to keep this situation in the public eye while being very careful not to say anything of course, it is very delicate, never wanted to say anything that could lead him to be held

even longer. we are getting some additional indications, you know, we talked about the fact where is bowe bergdahl at this hour. he is in a medical station at a forward operating base in eastern afghanistan, he will then go to bagram, onto landstuhl air base in germany that people that are held hostage go to. they say the next stop back in the united states is expected at this point to be brook army medical center in texas. this could all begin to happen very quickly. his parents want him home obviously, want him to get all of the medical care, so the military will be very cautious making sure he is physically and emotionally able to travel, but

everyone will tell you in the military when someone is wounded or in trouble, often the best medicine in the world is to get them back to their family, get them back home. and i think it is pretty certain that's what the military is going to want to do as fast as they can. but his parents, absolutely ecstatic they say getting the news today, dana. >> absolutely. and you mention the fact that as any parent would, his parents have been very aggressive about keeping his captivity in the news, keeping it out there, pressing to find some way to get him released. you mentioned before, they were even in washington. >> reporter: they were in washington for the memorial day weekend. i will tell you, over time they had come quietly to the pentagon several times to get briefings, behind the scenes briefings on what was happening, what the situation was, because i can tell you, i recall one day

several months ago walking down the hallway of the pentagon outside the office of the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and literally coming face to face with mr. bergdahl. there had been no notice, no announcement he was in town. no discussion about it. no acknowledgment by the pentagon. and there he was outside the office of the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. he had come for one of the regular briefings the military was continuing to give the family behind the scenes. and in afghanistan, not forgotten either on a trip to afghanistan a few years ago, i was in one of the detention facilities in afghanistan and in one of the interrogation cells, bowe bergdahl's photo was taped to the wall. i asked why do you have it taped to the wall? and the u.s. interrogators told me to that day no matter where

they picked up a prisoner in afghanistan, everybody was showing bowe bergdahl's picture and asked have you seen this man, do you know where he is. so it was that trade off between very aggressively trying to do what they could, not to do anything to cause further difficulties for bowe bergdahl, but to sort of keep the effort really going behind the scenes, and most of the time none of it was discussed publicly, but we do know that it seemed to all really come together in the last several days, in the last week or so, and all of the transfer and discussions about how to make it all happen really accelerated, and we expect a lot more details in the coming hours. >> barbara, thank you very much. i want you to stand by. with all of this breaking news, we want to pause and remind our viewers of the story, what exactly happened with bowe

bergdahl because this does culminate a saga that began in june of 2009, and our jake tapper has an explanation of what happened and what his loved ones were enduring after his abduction. >> get me, release me, please. i'm begging you bring me home, please. bring me home. >> reporter: that's bowe bergdahl, the only member of the u.s. military in captivity. bergdahl turned 27. four years of his life spent in captivity, held by a group loosely affiliated with the taliban. he was captured near the afghan, pakistan border after two months on the battlefield. since his capture, only a few propaganda videos proving he is alive trickled out. >> given freedom to exercise. >> reporter: his family suffering as it waits for news. their son's life hanging in the balance. >> thanks to you, our pows, mias

are never forgotten, never will be forgotten. bowe, if you can hear me, you are not forgotten, so help me god, you will come home. we will not leave you behind. >> reporter: his father robert appealed directly to the captors in this youtube video. >> i personally appeal to the general, our family is counting on your professional integrity and honor to secure the safe return of our son. >> reporter: in that video, robert bergdahl sports a long beard, learned phrases in arabic to better communicate directly. new york city reporter spoke to the family as their patience with the government's progress on bringing him home wore thin. >> they had become frustrated by the u.s. government, they felt the government was foot dragging, decided to speak out themselves. >> reporter: e-mails obtained by michael hastings, he made clear

disillusionment with the war before he disappeared. the future too good to waste on lies. >> his first letters home were positive, then he said he became, the e-mails became much darker. his son seemed to feel that the military was not the peace corps with guns ideal that he held up. >> reporter: this month, his family received a different kind of letter, believed to be from their son, delivered via the red cross. >> that brings new found hope. that's like sitting around a campfire that's going out, and you find one more log. >> reporter: so family and friends of bowe bergdahl wait, word of negotiations brings renewed hope that they can trade the yellow ribbon still hanging on their trees for the son that they represent. jake tapper, cnn, washington. >> now we know the family's hopes have been met.

army sergeant pow bowe bergdahl has been released from his captors in afghanistan to american custody. i want to go back to the white house to cnn correspondent erin mcpike. you, erin, you have been talking to white house officials but you also have for viewers that didn't hear the words of the president himself who released a statement telling the world exactly what happened. >> reporter: yeah, dana, to reset a bit, the president said in a statement today the american people are pleased to welcome home sergeant bowe bergdahl, held captive nearly five years. on behalf of the american people, i was honored to call his parents to express our joy that they can expect his safe return, mindful of their courage and sacrifice throughout this ordeal. now, the statement goes on to express appreciation for qatar, and afghanistan, and as you know, dana, president obama made a surprise visit to afghanistan last sunday, and he also says in this statement while we were mindful of the challenges, it is

our hope sergeant bergdahl's recovery could potentially open the door for broader discussion among afghans about the future of their country by building confidence that it is possible for all sides to find common ground. >> the timing of all of this, erin, certainly interesting, and questionable i guess you would say, but for good reasons and for good things. thank you very much. stay with us on this breaking news. we have a lot more coming up after the break. you told us your number one olive garden dishes. now they're part of our 2 for $25 guest favorites! featuring your all time favorite creamy chicken alfredo and seductive shrimp mezzaluna. it's our most inspired 2 for $25 ever. at olive garden. does your dog food have? 18 percent? 20? purina one true instinct has 30. active dogs crave nutrient-dense food. so we made purina one true instinct. learn more at purinaone.com that, my friends, is everything.

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welcome back. we are following breaking news here. good news to report, and that is that army sergeant bowe bergdahl, who has been a prisoner of war in afghanistan, taken captive by the taliban almost five years ago has now been released, is in u.s. custody, and this is part of what appears to be an incredible prisoner swap of sorts with five prisoners at guantanamo bay. we are getting incredible information and reporting from our barbara starr about the dramatic rescue by special forces of bowe bergdahl out of we believe afghanistan, and i want to bring in our senior international correspondent, nic robertson, who is in london now, nic, you spent a lot of time in

afghanistan and in the region we believe bowe bergdahl was. tell us where that is and what the environment was potentially that he was surrounded by. >> reporter: well, one of the principal things about the environment, it was always going to be a difficult environment to locate him in, hostile to u.s. forces, hostile even to the law of afghan government, possibly across the border inside pakistan, held by the hakani network, a strong tribal network with many places that it can hide out, villages sympathetic to it. was always going to be tough terrain, whether it was in the higher mountains or some of the lower rolling hills. but a tough terrain to locate him in and to extricate him from under hostile conditions. what does appear to have been the case here or we're beginning to certainly understand some of the parameters of how this may have happened, how his release

may have happened, you mentioned exchange for five taliban prisoners held in guantanamo bay, that was long a demand of the taliban for the release of bowe bergdahl. it is typical of the taliban to hold onto anyone they capture to try and extract a political price, in particular the exchange of prisoners. they do it all the time with afghan authorities, do it with pakistani authorities over the border, inside pakistan. this is their normal operating procedure. interesting that the white house thanks the emir of qatar for his role and for his personal support in this. the qatars allow the taliban to open an office there a year and a half or so back, the idea was this would help in negotiations somehow. that all fell through. but we can begin to see, we won't know and don't know details at the moment, we can begin to see some of the parameters of what may have begun to shape this. significant for the taliban as well, while they wanted a

prisoner exchange, one of the things they wanted for the united states is a clear declaration for the united states that it will get out of afghanistan. this is what they've said in the past. the fact that president obama said just a week ago that troops by the end of 2016 will be drawn down to just staff at the embassy, perhaps for the taliban was also a significant point in these discussions. >> you think that it was the timing of the president's announcement, never mind his trip last weekend to afghanistan, a surprise trip, but the timing of his announcement with regard to the u.s. presence there, knowing sort of the mentality of the taliban as you do, spending so much time over there, you think that was a factor here, a big factor? >> reporter: i think we can't overlook it for sure. you look at the context of the way the taliban has tried to extract what they want by holding on to bowe bergdahl, clearly with intent for almost five years, exchange of

prisoners. all along, they wanted clearly from the united states to hear and understand that the united states was not going to stay, keep troops forever inside afghanistan. that said, the taliban responded to president obama's statement a few days ago, saying the united states has been lying, it is extending its period of troops in afghanistan. i think the statement was significant. perhaps we will get more clarity on that later. this is certainly a factor the taliban talked about wanting to hear in the past. >> nic, want to follow up on one other thing you said, there are so many issues and angles to dig deep on, they're fascinating, bun is the role of the amir of qatar. the president thanked him in the statement, defense secretary chuck hagel did as well. take us into this relationship and into the influence of the amir of qatar, and qatar itself in the region, dealing with the

taliban, and of course in this particular rescue effort and prisoner swap. >> reporter: sure. the amir of qatar, qatar in the past couple years, played a huge role, tried to play a huge role in the middle east in the arab spring. hasn't gone the way they all wanted it to go. they wanted to open an office for the taliban. that caused a real stir in kabul, they put a plank outside the embassy, this office inside qatar, saying this was an embassy for the islamic emrit, the flag could be seen outside the compound. it had to be shortened and taken do down. it didn't provide for negotiation between the afghan government and taliban to try to

rejuice tduce the level of viol. it was hoped what the amir was doing would bring stability to afghanistan, that this was helping the united states effort in afghanistan, and may lead to release of bowe bergdahl. various parts of that just fell apart. dealing with the taliban is not an easy issue. >> and i want to throw something else at you that we have been talking about, talked about with peter bergen and general spider marks about the concept of negotiating with terrorists, which is something that is anathema to many americans, but it is one thing to not support something in theory, it is another to be knee deep in the realities of war. you have been around, you've seen a lot of situations like this, maybe not with the u.s., but with other countries, other democracies doing similar things. so does this surprise you? >> reporter: no, it doesn't. it is a pragmatic approach, realistic approach, what the british government did with the

ira in northern ireland, a peace agreement about a decade and a half ago. there are problems with that peace agreement, but it was only by talking with the terrorists, with terrorist leaders themselves who have sort of shifted themselves from taking weapons to political position. the taliban maintained they want to be a political force inside afghanistan in the future. they continue to fight for that with fighters on the ground. the taliban is divided. i hear from taliban officials outside of afghanistan and pakistan that they believe there are many taliban fighters who are ready for some sort of peace. so there is a political way, even while the fighting is going on, and certainly in the future of afghanistan, this is something that the future afghan government will have to do, the taliban were a political, military force. they have a political component. and it will be up to the afghan government to deal with them when u.s. troops, nato troops

pull out of afghanistan. otherwise, the civil war there will continue. >> fascinating, nic. stand by. i want to go to national security analyst peter bergen who joins us by phone. peter, let's pick up on the whole idea of negotiations and maybe more importantly the timing of this. we have been talking about the president's trip to afghanistan last week, the announcement that he made with regard to finalizing, formalizing the concept of bringing most u.s. troops out of the region. what do you make of that and of the timing in general? >> i think your discussion with nic is correct. i think that you can't discount the fact that the president announced effectively that there would be nothing but embassy security personnel in afghanistan at the end of his presidency. i think a couple of caveats to that. whether it is president hillary clinton in 2016 or president jeb bush or somebody else, he or she

can change his or her mind about this issue. they're not committed in a sense to what the president laid out. and we have a strategic partnership agreement, the united states, with afghanistan, goes through 2024. i don't think that's necessarily cast in stone that we will draw down to zero at the end of 2016. that said, it was an important public announcement and it gets to another issue, dana, which from your perch in congress is an important one, when the last combat troops come out of afghanistan in december, 2014, will the authorization for use of military force which was basically voted overwhelmingly a few days after 9/11, provide legal basis for the united states being in afghanistan and conducting other operations around the world, pakistan, yemen, somalia, will there be discussion in congress to basically wind down this authorization, repeal it, which is what the president said he wanted to happen a year ago.

i haven't heard much discussion in congress about that yet, but that would have a big effect, because that would end the war which would mean prisoners of war, who are in guantanamo would have to be released. so this in a sense might be the thin end of a wedge which would lead to greater prisoner releases from guantanamo. >> peter, absolutely. you raise a good point about congress having to authorize troops in afghanistan in the first place, way back after 9/11, and i can tell you, you mention my perch, my usual perch in congress that it is hard to get anything through these days, and when it comes at least now to matters of war and authorizing or changing the terms of war and how u.s. troops should be used, it is going to be very difficult to see congress wanting to touch that in the near future. peter, thank you so much.

thank nic robertson and thank you viewers watching in the u.s. and around the world. stay with us for more breaking news. we will be right back.

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exchange for five guantanamo detainees, held by the taliban almost five years. want to bring in ed lavandera to talk about what this meant to the community where bowe bergdahl is from, you have been reporting from there. tell us what the sense is from there. >> reporter: it is an overwhelming sense of relief, the town in idaho, south of sun valley, a small community that rallied around bowe bergdahl's parents for almost five years they've gone through the ordeal, been there many times since this all started almost five years ago. have been in touch with bowe's parents many years. i can speak to the intensity with which his parents fought for this day and prayed for this day so much, you know, his

father started growing a beard out as his way of showing solidarity with his son. he would teach himself the languages of the region, on his own, would try to communicate with his son's captors to try to negotiate his release, send some sort of signal to them. it really is an overwhelming -- the length to which his parents went to during the last five years to secure or try to secure their son's release. >> tell us about that, the lengths that they've gone. barbara was just recalling a moment when she was walking the halls of the pentagon and bumped into bowe bergdahl's father there for a briefing. they have been relentless. >> reporter: they have. there has been -- to what extent they'll share these stories in the months ahead, we'll have to wait and see, but there has been a great deal of movement behind

the scenes which the majority of this country has never even heard about and perhaps they will share it one day, but there has been a great deal of work that they have kind of tried to spearhead behind the scenes to make sure this day would come. think about this, bowe bergdahl is a young man that spent the majority of his 20s in captivity, and his parents, i was struck by one thing his father said once that he kept his clocks and watch on afghan time, the clocks and watches in the house were not kept on idaho time, they were kept, it is in afghan time so he could answer the phone any time of day, this is a man who taught himself the language, immersed himself in the culture to try to connect with his son's captors in hopes that that makes some sort of difference, and i know many of his friends in the community there truly believe had it not

been for efforts on his parents' behalf perhaps this day would not have come. i know this is a situation that's weighed on them, more than words can describe at this point, what the bergdahl family has been through, and trying to finally see this day, so i can, you know, i can only imagine what their reaction must have been like. i know i have had a chance to speak briefly with a few people there in the town of hailey, idaho. as much as they felt in their heart of hearts that this day would come, the fact that it is here, it is hard for many folks in bowe bergdahl's hometown to finally be able to say those words, this day has finally come. i think it is incredibly emotional for all of them. i know i'm struck every time i go back to the town of hailey, idaho, yellow ribbons are there, the coffee shop he once worked at, five years ago put up a sign of bring bowe bergdahl home, and

that sign still sits there at that coffee shop. last time in town i was struck by the toll the weather had taken on the sign, but it has never come down in almost five years every time i'd see that sign it would become more weathered, torn apart by the weather there in idaho, and i think that spoke volumes for just how long this ordeal has lasted for the bergdahl family. >> absolutely. look, when your son becomes a -- a member of the army, a sergeant in the army, as he is, you obviously know the risks. you know he could pay the ultimate price, but this limbo, knowing or believing that he is alive, in captivity and not knowing much more is -- absolutely -- unimaginable, and you talked to them so much about it. i mean, do they have words to describe what it was like? >> reporter: this is also a family that -- they really are,

you know, they're such interesting people as i've gotten to know a little about them and they live in the small town of hailey, idaho. they live on the outskirts of the town in a very remote kind of way. a very simplistic kind of way, and that's the kind of life they've always wanted to live. all of a sudden this family is thrust into the middle of this international saga, if you will. it's, you know, nothing that this family ever imagined or would ever have wanted, but there they are, and i just always remember the messages and, that bob bergdahl would try to send to his son in hopes somehow through a radio transmission or maybe his captors would play the video for him, he would end everything that he said, bowe, if you can hear this, you are not forgotten. your father will not leave you

on the battlefield. i mean, it's incredibly emotional. >> all that work, effort, all that passion, not in vain. it's pretty remarkable. ed lavandera, thank you so, so much for telling that important perspective. we'll be right back with the breaking news. stay with us.

and our breaking news is an american soldier held by the taliban for nearly five years was freed by the taliban today.

sergeant bowe bergdahl was the only american military prisoner of war from our long, more than 12 years' war in afghanistan. he was freed after long running behind the scenes negotiations with the taliban and after the u.s. agreed to transfer five detainees at guantanamo bay in cuba to qatar. the president said he was honored to call bergdahl's parents and in his words expressed our joy at his safe return. and bowe's mom and dad released this statement saying we were so joyful and relieved when president obama called us today to give the news bowe is finally coming home. we cannot wait to wrap our arms around our own son. we want to thank the many reporters around the nation and around the world. we want to take this opportunity to tank all those in the many u.s. government agencies who never gave up. today we are ecstatic. bergdahl is in the hands of the u.s. military and his health is

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performance review in a while. 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. there's no one thermometer for the u.s. economy. only you can take its temperature. i'm christine romans. this is "your money." for those with jobs or the recently unemployed, the clouds are parting and. economy feeling warm. jobs are coming back. investments mike stocks and housing rising. for the long-term unemployed the economy is stid cold. jobless benefits running out, employers aren't giving them a chance and many are out of savings. five years after the worst