happy birthday. >> let us know if the police get back with us with anything more on that. i want to close with some news that we just learned. toronto's mayor, who has battled substance abuse and has battled a lot of video reports about his use of crack cocaine, he has withdrawn from the october 27th mayoral race in toronto after being diagnosed with abdominal -- with an abdominal tumor, this according to a city official who spoke with reuters news service. rob ford will not be running for re-election. apparently suffering with an abdominal tumor. "wolf" begins right now. i'm in for wolf blitzer today. i'm brianna keilar. president obama has chosen

retired general john allen to lead the international effort against the terrorist group. the specifics are being finalized. the cia has increased its estimate of possible isis fighters. the initial estimate was as many as 10,000 and now the cia is saying that they can muster between 31,000 fighters. we want it get more details on the foreign fighters that are helping to swell the isis ranks in syria. brian todd is following that part of the story. what are you finding, brian? >> more than 15,000 foreign fighters, including about 2,000 westerners, have gone to syria to fight. the source said they have come from more than 80 countries. of those, according to a u.s. intelligence official, hundreds of them are westerners and hundred of westerners are fighting for isis, including

maybe a dozen or more americans, brianna. so that's how the breakdown is right now. the 15,000 foreign fighters in syria is an astounding number because we know there could be as many as 31,000 fighters in isis alone. of those, hundreds are westerners and maybe a dozen more are americans. >> and tell us in france, it's giving us a sense of how isis recruits foreign fighters. what have we learned here? >> the man handed over to french authorities from turkey the french interior minister calls him a particularly dangerous individual who recruited many young people in france, several of them teenagers. some of those fighters went to isis, some to other groups. analysts say they tend to lure these young men with the ideal of fighting for the cause, they pay their fighters, according to intelligence officials, but it's not clear the range of pay and

how they pay them and what they pay them. a little unclear. we're digging on that a little bit. we're going to have more tonight at 6:00. they do pay their way into syria and some of these areas. they pay for their travel and also pay them a small salary. also, we have to say these recruiting videos are a huge recruiting tool for them. here is a jihadi video just luring people in. come fight for the cause, come for the adventure. come be a hero. those are some of the things they lure them with. it's a pretty astounding recruiting process. >> it's a terrorist organization with a serious pr effort. brian todd, thank you so much. what about the u.s. passport holders, for instance, that have gone to syria to fight alongside isis? what should authorities do to keep them from carrying out terrorist attacks?

john thune is one of a dozen senators calling for action. what do you want that the administration isn't doing? >> we want to see a plan, brianna. one of the things that should concern a lot of americans is so many westerns are involved in this. as you just heard, the effect of social media and trying to radicalize them as people, make this a real, attractive magnet for younger people in particular to come there. but the fact that there are americans and europeans in the fight withholding passports is a real concern. how do we prevent these people from coming back into the country? they are on no fly lists. we're just asking secretary of state john kerry and jey johnson, secretary of homeland security, do you have a plan to prevent these people from coming back into the united states where they may do harm. >> i want to talk to you about some of the semantics and then

also the congressional role. some say there should be an authorization of military action. republicans run the house. you're a former house member. why don't they just do it? it's not exactly a profile encourage if there are people calling for this and yet the house isn't going ahead and naturally taking action. >> i think unwith of tone of t . is, congress can do that on its own. they are going to act on a continuing resolution which will provide the authorization to train the troops, the moderate opposition. in terms of the broader authorization, the community welcomes congress doing it themselves but i, frankly, think it would be advisable to talk to congress and with that request and for congress to act on it. i think that's the way the process ought to work. most of us -- i personally believe -- that they do have

legal authority based upon the 2001 and 202 aufms. >> a year ago we heard the president say it's stronger if congress is involved and not just in a consultant role but beyond that, voting on this. to your point that this isn't the way that it's done, speaker boehner said, it hasn't been done that way before. i mean, it sounds kind of like a lame excuse, in a way to, say that's not how we've done it before. >> well, i think -- and really, frankly, it is. there's one commander in chief and that's the person who says, this is what i want to do. this is my objective. he's the one that comes and sells his plan. we've gotten sort of conflicting signals about that and the concern that a lot of republicans in congress is, is the president in this to win it? and if he really is, he could come with an authorization are to the use of military force, get congress to vote on it. the last time he proposed doing, that of course, is enwhether he

was when he was talking about using force in syria and then he got pushed from the left and he pulled away from that. >> i want to end on a sound bite that we have of secretary kerry. this is how he is describing in an interview with our elise labott the campaign to destroy isis. he says it's not a war. let's listen. >> what we are doing is engaging in a very significant counterterrorism operation. and it's going to go on for some period of time. if somebody wants to think about it as being a war with isil, they can do so. but the fact is, it's a major counterterrorism operation. >> a major counterterrorism operation. why not call it a war? >> it is. i think they are trying to give base to their political wars in the country. there are democrats leery of this and, frankly, most of the calls for the president to come to congress are coming from democrats right now. but i think when he says that,

it's -- it's basically denial of what is happening. we're dropping bombs in a foreign country. we've got 1700 troops on the ground. this is a war against isis. this is a war to destroy an organization that is set upon doing great harm to americans and to our allies around the world. >> senator thune, thank you for being with us. really appreciate it. >> thanks, brianna. is there a role for israel? we'll take a closer look at the options for prime minister benjamin netanyahu. and the mother of slain journalist james foley speaking out for the first time since president obama spoke to the nation on wednesday night. when it comes to good nutrition...i'm no expert. that would be my daughter -- hi dad. she's a dietitian. and back when i wasn't eating right, she got me drinking boost. it's got a great taste, and it helps give me the nutrition i was missing. helping me stay more like me. [ female announcer ] boost complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones

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president obama is getting his anti-isis coalition together in wednesday night's speech. the president called on middle east countries to join with the united states, jordan, egypt, lebanon and saudi arabia are some of the partners who have signed on but israel is not in that group. mark regev is joining me. the prime minister would only say that israel is only playing a part. is israel part of this coalition to defeat isis? >> there's no doubt whatsoever as to which side israel is on. my prime minister said yesterday that we fully support, fully support president obama's call for international action against isis. isis is a threat to all civilized countries, to all responsible actors on the international stage and we have to defeat isis. >> what's the hesitation to be

h labeled as part of the coalition? >> i think there could be some diplomatic solutions of having israel up front because we want to have sunni arabs in this. some of it will be known publicly and some of it will be remaining secret. there should be no doubt that israel is an active partner in the fight against isis and against the other islamic extremist and they want to return to some pre-medieval society and these are violent terrorists and have to be defeated. >> what type of military role is israel considering or prepared to take in combatting isis in

syria? >> i think it's best that i don't answer that question publicly. israel has a very close military-to-military relationship with the united states, intelligence-to-intelligence relationship. we are strategic partners and the national security establishment has been speaking to their american counterparts and we are cooperating fully in this effort. you'll forgive me if i don't go into greater detail than that other than to say it must be remembered that isis is just one branch of a very poisonous tree. and you have other radical movements out there, whether it's the al nusra front, hezbollah backed by iran, hezbollah in lebanon, whether it's al qaeda oral shabaab or boko haram. they are all branches of the same poisonous tree and it's

crucial that we defeat this radical extreme islamist terrorist movement. >> is it on the table, though, israeli military action, to combat isis? if you can't say that it definitely is, is it on the table? >> i'm not going to answer exactly. >> okay. >> for obvious reasons that question. i apologize, brianna. >> the prime minister has come under some criticism from opposition leaders. they say that a lack of public partnership with the u.s. is a diplomatic failure. what's your response to that? >> no. we've been through this sort of thing in the past. when america is focusing on trying to get arab states, sunni arab states to step up to the plate and to play their part in a concerted effort, sometimes israel's presence in these things has to be a little more

behind the scenes. >> is there a -- >> having said that -- >> is there a trigger that -- i know that you've said that everyone knows what side israel is on here. is there a trigger, though, that would force israel to take a bigger role or to maybe come out from behind the scenes in the fight against isis? >> i don't want to go into different contingencies. it's obvious that you've got isis in iraq and in syria. you've got isis maybe threatening to other countries, lebanon and jordan. and i think it's fair to say that israel will act as needs be. first of all, in coordination with the united states and, of course, if we are directly to protect ourselves but isis is not only a threat to the region, it's a threat to the world. it's a threat to the united states, it's a threat to israel, it's a threat to all democratic countries and it's crucial that we nip this in the bud. the good news is that this can

be done. this task is doable and that if we act concertedly with allies, we can nip this in the bud. >> mark regev, thank you so much, spokesman for prime minister benjamin netanyahu, thank you for being with us. >> thank you for having me. right now there are ten people under arrest in pakistan in connection with the shooting of malala who was shot two years ago by taliban militants in an attempted assassination. she's an advocate for the rights of girls who want to get an education. the gang members responsible for the attack have been arrested. coming up, the fallout over the ray rice case. senators who nt wa the nfl to get tougher on domestic violence. i will talk with one of them, next. turn the trips you have to take,

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legal will not tolerate violence. joining me to talk about this is minnesota senator who signed that letter. thanks for being with us. and tell us if you've gotten a response from the commissioner here. >> brianna, we haven't gotten a direct response yet but many people have been hearing the news out there. and one of the reasons the women centers came together, just as we came together to pass the violence against women's act was to say that these players are role models for young men all across the country. and this is an opportunity for the nfl to change their policies and really when you think about this, this is a celebrity player but we know this happens all the time in america. and we cannot change the culture when people are getting small suspensions. >> you're taking a strong stance as well against the nfl's policy of the six game ban saying it is

too short. with the first consideration given to mitigating factors and a longer suspension when situations warrant. a second offense will result in ban ne banishment from the nfl. do you think players should be treated differently because, as you say, they are role models? >> no. you look at all employees when you look at a policy for your business. in this case, obviously the nfl hadn't done all of their homework. they knew that the act was so atrocious, the way that he beat up his then fiancee, it was so outrageous, that they ended up releasing him from the team. this gets to the point of, why didn't they try to get all of the evidence. clearly there are reports that they had that tape within their midst and also when you're an employee you really want to try to get the facts. i know as a prosecute are to,or

victims change their story because they are scared and they are scared economically. this happens all the time and you have to understand that if you're going to have a policy in place on domestic violence and at some point we know the ray rice knew about this video, we knew that there were a lot of people that knew about this video. so it seems outrageous to me that they didn't try harder to get a copy of the video. >> can i ask you, and that's really interesting to hear you say, coming from a former prosecutor, i think a lot of people have been shocked. reporters found that overwhelmingly it was women who were wearing the ray rice jersey and when reporters interviewed those in the stand, they said this is a private matter between this couple they are getting counseling, as we have heard. do you think there's any room for second chances after counseling is the nfl currently gives right now? >> there is always room for

second chances in america for everyone unless you're put away for the rest of your life. i think the point here is that the nfl mishandled it and admitted how they handled it in the first case with only a two-game suspension, with how they handled the way they then gave the six-game suspension without having to seek out the videotape and now when they saw the videotape, they did release him from the team and of course people hope he gets his act together and they get counseling and everything works out for them. at some point, when you have someone maying footbal someone playing football and a young kid for america to see, tough take action. >> let me ask you a final question from the perspective of being a former prosecutor. you said a lot of people saw that tape and you seemed doubtful that the nfl didn't see it or have a chance to. why is that? why are you doubt snfl.

>> because everyone knows that this happened on an elevator and as most americans know, there are a lot of cameras on elevators. at some point you say, there's probably a type ape of what hapd in the elevator. you want to do everything you can. you maybe can suspend the player while you get the evidence and that is not what happened here. i think it's good that former director of the fbi robert mull lett mueller is a man of integrity. no one is above the law and they have to make sure that they were not treating this employee differently just because they were the nfl. >> should commissioner goodell resign? >> i think, again, as a former prosecutor that you have to look at the facts and the evidence that is being collected now and we are going to learn more and more about this as the time goes

on. i grew up watching the vikings. that being said, we want to keep our sports as wholesome as we can in a day when they are all about money, we want to keep these players as role models and certainly this was mishandled by the nfl. i think they are the first to admit this and they need to change their policy going forward. if there's any silver lining here, it will be that america is looking at this issue of domestic violence and realize just how horrific it is. >> we are sure looking. senator klobuchar, thank you so much. just ahead, she was appalled by the effort to free her son. the mother of jim foley speaks exclusively to cnn. if i told you that a free ten-second test

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welcome back. we have breaking news from the white house we'll get to in a moment. but irs first, the mother of ja foley says the united states let her son down. foley was beheaded by isis fighters three weeks ago. now diane foley is releasing details of what she says happened behind the scenes while her son was held hostage. >> as an american, i was embarrassed and appalled. i think our efforts to get jim released was an annoyance. >> to the government? >> yeah. and it wasn't -- didn't seem to be in our strategic interest, if

you will. i was appalled as an american. jim would have been saddened. jim believed till the end that his country would come to their aid. i know, had he survived this ordeal, he would have been very passionate about the need to make kidnapped citizens a priority. a priority for our country and internationally to try to promote dialogue and strategy. >> susan rice disagreed with diane foley's assessment. here's what she said. >> but i and others in the u.s. government worked very hard with diane foley and her family to try to be supportive, to try to provide what information we could and, of course, as you know, the president ordered a

very daring and very well-executed rescue operation when on the only occasion we had what we thought was fresh and we hoped actionable intelligence about the whereabouts of jim foley and the other hostages. unfortunately, they were no longer there. >> the beheading of jim foley sent a signal throughout the world. the islamic state, also known as isis, or isil, it's different from some other terrorist groups. their tactics are even more brutal and barbaric. let's bring in my next guest, bobby ghosh. in an article last night in courts, you talked about how isis or isil is worse than al qaeda. >> yes. i said in that article, it was an unholy combination of the nazis as well as al qaeda.

they are much larger than al qaeda was. they have more organizational discipline and they have the appetite for genocide. >> and the death of jim foley, it really galvanized american pub electric opinion. it showed americans in a way, i think it focused them on this group and what this group is about. just yesterday, also, we have the cia saying that there's a number of people fighting for isis and it's more than three times previous estimates. do you think the u.s. has waited too long to tackle the threat here? >> yes, i'm afraid i do. and quite a lot of other people feel that the u.s. has waited far too long. but politics is politics. it has taken a long time to convince people from both sides of the aisle in washington and to convince the country at large, we can, at this point, sort of argue about whether we should have done this a couple of years ago but it's heartening at least that a decision has been made and now the task is at hand and we need to get going

pretty quickly. because as we've seen with isis, they are able to take advantage of the time that we've given them and they move very, very quickly. so there's not a lot of time to waste now that we've made the decision. >> bobby, we heard from president obama on wednesday night and he's talking about the u.s. really backing up the government of iraq more militarily, diplomatically, also helping kurdish fighters as well as strengthening its ties with moderate syrian rebels but also this coalition of countries to take on isis. do you think it's going to be effective? is it enough? >> no, it's not enough. it's a start. now for john kerry to sort of go and dot all the is and cross all of the ts to get the air rarab countries in the middle east and how much they will contribute. right now everyone seems to be

willing to sit on the sidelines while the u.s. does all of the hard work. that is not the way forward. that is not sustainable. the u.s. has shown that it is willing to take the lead, as somebody must, but all of these other countries must contribute in more substantial ways and give their blessing to an american operation. >> what does it take, in the end, to defeat isis? >> there's a military piece and social piece. the military piece is quite clear, they have to be driven out from their safe havens. people that they are terrorizing have to be liberated. and they have to take the okxygn away from them. this is a robust ideology that has survived for quite a long time, for decades, and although western forces have tried to defeat the leader in the bat fell field, it has not really been defeated in the hearts of minds of some people in the arab

world and muslim world. that is the role to fight back against the propaganda. that is the role for the arab states and muslim sleleaders. >> that is the hard part, too. bobby ghosh, thank you so much. if you would like to donate to the james w. foley legacy foundation, find information at jamesfoleyfund.com. hillary clinton ready to return to iowa for the first time in six years and she's bringing some impressive poll numbers with her and sarah palin and her family attend a party that turns violent. the palin's alleged involvement in the confrontation just ahead.

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the backdrop for her visit. she's 53% and vice president biden at 15%. other potential names in single digits there. these are the poll numbers. what does that mean, david, for her as she goes to iowa at the top of that list? >> oh, it's a wonderful sendoff for her. to go out there with bill clinton, that's going to create a lot of hoopla. to answer your question, brianna, if this had been joe biden going out there, would you be going out to iowa this weekend? >> maybe not. >> so when she and bill clinton go out together, we're in the buzz phase of the campaign. it's going to create lots and lots of buzz. >> i also wonder, ron, we're looking at, for instance, other polls show that this is closing. she's heads and tails of other

democrats but her book tour is in the downward direction of her approval. >> she's coming back into the focus. people are looking at her again as a political figure rather than as secretary of state who was above politics. as a result, you're brought back into the 50/50 divide that we are left with in the country. it's very hard for anybody to sustain approval much above a little over 50% in this country anymore and i think the reality is, that's how she will be seen. the 60 and 65% approval we saw in the past is going to go away. separate from that, the book tour was not an arousing success. it's a reminder that it's hard to roll out of bed after being out of the field for a while. she needs more exposure to the press and get her legs ready to run for president. it's not an easy thing to do. i think that's the clear lesson of that book tour. >> get out of the bunker is sort of the lesson? >> it's also true that having a

tour with a book is one thing. having a tour with bill clinton is something else. >> yeah. >> it will create a lot of buzz to be out there with her husband. >> it certainly will. they are expecting attendance to be maybe second to 2007 when all of the democratic contenders in that huge democratic fight were out there. so the other thing, we're going to see bruce brailey there. he's running who is in a tight race with a republican. he's running against joanie ernst. he's trying to win the space that harkin has vacated. when you look at this matchup, ron, how big of a deal is this in terms of what it means for democrats across the board? >> it's really a race they can't lose. this poll was an improvement for him and a sign he's recovered after trailing in a series of missteps and gaffes earlier.

if you think about the senate, the battle for the senate has three tiers. it's the seven democratic held seats. the red state democratic seats are the core of the vulnerability. iowa, new hampshire, democratic leading but finally you have three, kansas, georgia, kentucky, if democrats lose many states in that middle tier, it's going to be probably impossible for them to hold the senate because the first year of the seven is tough enough. >> and looking at iowa, david, i loved how you said -- go on. >> yeah. brianna, there's sort of a ghost lurking here and that's obama's poll numbers. ron has pointed out, i think very importantly, important insights and when an incumbent president is above 45% in a state, the senate candidate in an off-year election can do pretty well from his party.

but if he's below 45, then the party may not do very well and a lot of these states, as ron as pointed out, obama is close to 40. that's the bad news. and the interesting question now becomes, is he going to get a ball out of this new initiative against isis or does that, too, become part of a lot of controversy? >> we'll be watching to see that. gentlemen, thanks for joining us. i like how you said, david, that iowa has not been kind to hillary clinton. this is going to be a big weekend, going back to where the wheels came off and we'll see how she handles it. thanks, guys, appreciate it. >> thanks, brianna. so will the battle against isis be the defining moment of the obama presidency? this is what we were just talking about? we'll have a look at the implications that this fight could have on the president's legacy, next. [ man ] look how beautiful it is.

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correspondent dana bash. i want to start with you, dana. it's interesting, we heard bobby ghosh, he was just on and he's saying, you're hearing the president talk about this coalition but at the same time there are a lot of nations happy to sit by while the u.s. does a lot of the heavy lifting here. how much arm twisting are we expecting to see from the administration really trying to get some of these countries in line? >> that's what you're seeing secretary kerry doing right now. he's sort of globe trotting trying to get some help and one of the main reasons why the president is asking for a vote to give him this narrow authority to train and arm syrian rebels isn't so much because they aren't doing it. they are. they are doing it in a covert way. they want to do it in an overt way and a big reason is to send a sign to allies in the region, be more free flowing. >> move from the cia to the d.o.d.? >> right.

in the past they've been unhappy with president obama because they thought they had a plan a couple of years ago and feel rightly or wrongly that he backed away from it. but let's sometimes remember that the coalition of the willing, as we saw with george bush turns out, yeah, we'll send some troops but they can't carry weapons? >> and they can't be in the war zone. >> so let's just see -- because what are americans worried about? who is going to spill blood here? right? that's when it really begins to totally matter and that's where you see who really is willing and who isn't. >> and how does iran factor into all of this? >> yeah. it's funny, i talked to senator dianne feinstein the other day who said, i really think we should be talking to iran because they could be helpful and that was startling to me but the truth of the matter is, we're already providing air support for iraqi troops who are being helped by iranian troops. so there's a common enemy there. so it's already happening.

and will it cause folks to be upset here? yes. at the moment the target is isis. >> one complicating factor is iran and the other is the mission going to do some things to help assad in syria, the leader of syria, who is this whole reason why all this started in the first place, the enemy of the u.s. there's so many complications. it's so incredibly difficult. on iran, it is fascinating, candy, the hawks in congress. dianne feinstein is one of them. lindsey graham, others. saying of course, iran is not our friend but you got to do what you got to do and the most important thing is to get isis and that may coordinating with our enemies. >> i think if they said we need to talk to assad, everyone would go no. with iran, it will be a look the other way. >> let's talk about the role of congress here. we had senator thune on and i was talking about this. you asked the speaker yesterday,

dana, what's going on? why isn't the house going to move forward with the vote? the speaker basically said that's not how we normally do things. i heard thune say that. i said, come on. isn't that kind of like a lame sort of pass the buck kind of thing and he said, you know, he stood by it. explain this to us. >> what is most striking is week in and week out at john boehner's press conferences talking about how congress is a co-equal branch. this is a president gone awry. this is an example of where you have a clear constitutional role so why not do something? why not be aggressive. his answer was 24 years in congress, this request comes from the white house. it doesn't originate in the house or the senate. whatever. i mean, if you want to do it and you want to have a role, which on a bipartisan basis most people do, they say, yes. i don't need to tell you this. a big reason is because we have something in november called an election. we'll just probably do it after

the november election. >> i want to ask you before we go about the president's legacy in all of this. he's the president who is supposed to be the president who got the u.s. out of two wars. he seems very conflicted about all of this. how does it fit into his legacy? >> we'll see. there are legacy moments you know are there. 9/11 you thought this will frame george bush's not only 1-year-old administration. this is less clear to me. this is a legacy that maybe we'll know in 10 or 15 years. the president says it may take another president to finish. you know, we're not talking about boom, go in and then we're done. i just don't think it's totally clear what the legacy will be. political legacy, i'm really interested in how the mid terms come out and how this, at all, plays into the numbers. >> do you think it will play? >> it's hard to know.

some races are so close almost anything can sway it. we saw those poll numbers that said most people think the president has been too weak rather than too strong. does this help? >> probably not enough. >> we'll know soon, won't we? thank you so much. next, sarah palin and her family and dana and candy will stay with me for this one. they go to a party and a huge brawl breaks out. details of the fight and palins alleged involvement just ahead. h trying new things? feel that in your muscles? yeah... i do... try a new way to bank, where no branches equals great rates.

police are investigating a big brawl at a party attended by sarah palin and her family. we have candy and dana back with us and we're joined by cnn national correspondent suzanne malveaux who is following this. what happened here? >> oh my gosh. the gift that keeps on giving. several reports from local and

anchorage media and bloggers report that palins were allegedly involved in this brawl that took place at a joint birthday party last saturday. according to these reports who cite eyewitnesses at the party, sarah palin, the former alaska governor and along with her husband todd and their children, bristol, willow and track pull up in a hummer together. it was todd's 50th birthday. he was one of those that the party was celebrating and according to the reports from the party, track sees his sister's willow ex-boyfriend. they get into an argument. there's a lot of screaming and then allegedly the other sister, bristol, starts swinging. sarah palin allegedly yells at this point "don't you know who i am?" we reached out to anchorage police department who gave us a rather vague statement but it does confirm the following. on saturday, september 6th, 2014, just before midnight,

anchorage police responded to a report of a verbal and physical altercation taking place between multiple subjects outside a residen residence. at the time of the incident none of the above parties wanted to press charges and no arrests were made. alcohol was believed to have been a factor in the incident and some palin family members were in attendance. we're reaching out to the families. this is what we notice. this is sarah palin's facebook page, which made no mention of the party the day before the y melee happened outside the residents. palin says i was traveling yesterday so i'm posting todd's 50th birthday greeting a day late, which is fine because the handsome guy barely looks a day over 50. so i don't know.

>> so i don't even know where to start with this. so let's say -- okay. sarah palin -- i mean, one thing is we have seen her tea party juice diminish a little bit. does this matter politically or is this just sort of a reality tv kind of moment playing out? >> bingo. you have the reality show and then the reality of her life. >> doesn't she have a new show coming out? >> she does. she has her own channel as well. >> i'm going to admit it right now. i would watch it. wouldn't you? >> totally. >> maybe. i don't know. for work purposes of course. >> what else? >> for sarah palin and the tea party and her support there, i think there's some people this is going to be media making too much and that works for that group and the rest of the country has moved on.

i think you look at a wash here. >> do you think anyone cares? >> you know -- >> besides the tabloid aspect of it? >> the interesting thing is that nobody has pressed charges, right. this thing could easily go away. everybody said we don't want to have anything to do with this. there's not a paper trail necessarily. if they said alcohol is involved, maybe it's not really going to be something that anybody is going to pursue. they say it's an open investigation. i will say, however, that you know her even better than i do having covered her for so long, if she wants media attention she knows how to get it. the last time we saw her a couple years ago after the white house correspondence dinner behind the scenes and she knows how to reach out to people. she knows how to use the media. >> people who are interested who like her want to see it and other people don't like her want to see her too. >> we could go on forever about this. >> let's not. >> all right. thank you so much.

remember you can see cnn "state of the union" with candy crowley every sunday at 9:00 a.m. and noon eastern. this weekend the white house chief of staff will join candy. we'll tune in for that. that's it for me. i'll be back at 5:00 eastern on "the situation room." "newsroom" with randi kaye starts now. hello, everyone. i'm randi kaye in for brooke baldwin. when you thought the threat of isis couldn't get bigger, a shocking revelation from the cia that we have severely underestimated the number of people willing to fight under the black flag of isis. the initial estimate was as many as 10,000 but now the u.s. believes isis can actually call on a fighting force of between 20,000 and 31,500. these new numbers coming as secretary of state john kerry continues his swing through the middle east trying to sell the president's plan. so far ten