hello i'm wolf blitzer, 1:00 p.m. in washington, 7:00 p.m. in jerusalem, 8:00 p.m. in moscow, wherever you're watching from around the world thanks very much for joining us. we begin with breaking news. a report of a scathing memo from the defense secretary of the united states, chuck hagel, takin taking exception with the obama administration's strategy in syria. let's go to barbara starr. what have we learned about this memo? what did the secretary of defense say, what does he want to do? >> a senior u.s. officials is now telling me, indeed, defense secretary chuck hagel earlier this month wrote a very private,

very blunt memo to national security adviser susan rice expressing very direct concerns about the administration's policy regarding syria. very few details, obviously, made available. hagel is very private about these matters. what we are told is that the secretary has some concerns that the administration policy is not sharply focused enough on how to deal with assad, the syrian leader, bashar al assad, and how to get him out of power and that he feels there is a potential that the gains being made with air strikes in syria, could be at risk unless the u.s. can better deal with the question of how to get rid of assad. okay. all of that said, this is not coming out in public. there is no way this memo is likely to be made public by the pentagon. they won't even talk about it. but what we know is this is coming out as there is at lot of political chatter in washington

this week, last week, going up to the midterm elections that white house politically is unhappy with hagel, secretary of state john kerry, and that a lot of white house loyalists are coming out and leaking stories to the news media about the concerns that the white house has with the national security team. that said, nothing from president obama so far has indicated he plans to make any changes and right now, what we are told, is hagel continues to offer his advice to the president and the white house team and continues to offer it very privately, but it's a very interesting revelation. certainly there are hagel defenders across washington. the revelation i think is that the defense secretary, who doesn't talk about this a lot, has some very strong views about what is really happening. >> and correct me if i'm wrong, barbara, but the defense secretary, chuck hagel and the chairman of the joint chiefs, general martin dempsey at the bottom of the hour, 1:30 eastern, about to have a news

conference. i assume this subject will come up? >> i think you can sure bet it will come up. they are scheduled a half hour from now for one of their regular press conferences just down the hall from where i am in the pentagon briefing room. hagel probably at this point knows he's going to get asked and we'll see how much he is willing to show about his behind-the-scenes advice to the president and the white house, how much he is willing to say in public. both secretary hagel, general dempsey, secretary of state john kerry, they know right now full well they are already answering many of the questions that are being put to them about this. they know that this political chatter in washington is going on. these are very experienced men. they know the climate, they know the mid-terms are coming up, they know the white house is under tremendous political pressure to deal with these international crises. the betting money i would have is that chuck hagel is going to keep his counsel to himself and the president.

>> won't say much but we'll have live coverage at the bottom of the hour of secretary hagel's news conference with the chairman of the joint chiefs general martin dempsey. very quickly, do we know what hagel would like the u.s. to be doing in syria right now to have from his perspective a better policy? >> candidly we do not have an answer to that. he appears by all accounts from the people i've spoken to in the administration to want a more clear policy directed to getting assad out of power. he does continue to support, we are told, the pentagon's program to train and equip moderate syrian rebels. that's a difficult program. it's going to be a long time before that has any impact on getting assad out of power. i asked and i am told he's still very much supports that, but the actual -- whether he made recommendations, whether he has specifics to the white house that he wants to get done and if there's any answer back from the white house to him, going to be

honest and tell you, wolf, we don't know the answers. >> all right. thanks very much, barbara starr, the breaking news out of the pentagon. let's get analysis now. joinings us bob bear, cnn's national security analyst, a former cia operative and author of a brand new book which i recommend, "the perfect kill, 21 laws for assassins." check it out. joining us our cnn global affairs delta force officer and retired lieutenant colonel james reese. colonel reese, what do you make of this -- the news from barbara starr about hagel's what's being described as a tough memo to the white house saying uknow what, guys, we need a better strategy as far as syria is concerned? >> well, wolf, six weeks ago, on cnn tonight, the night the bombs started dropping in syria, we had that small round table, you know, discussion with don lemon and right then we said, the center of gravity on this whole issue between iraq and syria is

assad and what we're going to do with assad. that has been pushed to the side. i think secretary hagel, i know general officers know that down deep, but there's politics involved in this piece. we've seen the turks over the last couple weeks asking what is the long-term issue with assad and assad is the center of gravity on this whole piece from my perspective. >> makes a good point, bob, there because the u.s. has been launching air strikes together with others, but mostly the u.s. in syria, against isis targets, but they have deliberately avoided any targets associated with bashar al assad's military regime. they're not going after any of those targets is that right? >> absolutely, wolf. we don't have anybody to side with in syria. that's the problem. free syrian army is not a capable fighting force. it's not going to win anything. we can't live with bashar al assad. he slaughtered hundreds of thousands of people, including with chlorine gas, and, of course, we can't support isis. and you look at the kurdish

situation, the turks are furious that we are in this essence backing a kurdish enclave in northern syria because they don't want to see a kurdish state. there are no easy options. and i think what hagel has come down and said listen, if this isn't working, we have to come up with a coherent policy. the problem for hagel, i understand, he's been cut out of a lot of the decision making. it's top down. the president, the vice president, susan rice, who are making the policy and they only bring him in at the end and he's unhappy about that. >> we'll see what he says about this at the bottom of the hour. colonel reese, there are a lot of u.s. allies in that part of the world who hate bashar al assad's regime. they would like to see the u.s. launch air strikes against these syrian positions that are associated with the regime there, but that hasn't happened over the past three years and probably is not going to happen. maybe in part, and i'm anxious to get your thoughts because of this very close collaborative

relationship that bashar al assad'ss regime has with iran, is that right? >> well, it does. right now we all know for years, the assad regime gives the iran regime a foothold within a large sunni populace and the other problem is, and it's a difficult task at hand here, you take assad out with that -- with his shia aspect backed by the iranians, all of a sudden you have a vacuum because there are no strong, as we start to say, the free syrian army, who really is the free syrian army? there could become a vacuum if assad is taken out. who becomes the power player within that area now becomes an issue, and right now isis is the power player. >> so when all is said and done, bob, there, the best friends the united states has in syria right now are what's called the free syrian army and some of those troops will be trained by the u.s. and others inside saudi arabia, but that's going to take a long time to get them up to speed to make them a really

capable fighting force, and these various kurdish militias there, most of whom are really disliked by the nato ally turkey. this doesn't seem like the u.s., as you correctly point out, has a whole lot of ground troops there that can bolster what the u.s. is trying to achieve in destroying isis? >> colonel reese is absolutely right. you know, with bashar al assad gone, the aloe white generals gone we don't have anything but pure chaos. if i were put in the white house today, i couldn't come up with an easy solution, other than dividing up the middle east into new countries which is unthinkable for this president or for congress or anybody else. we're just not prepared to deal with it. i think what we're seeing now, is we're seeing band-aids put on kobani, the bombing of isis, hoping to get us to next week's election and then in 2016. but i think it's -- we can't wait that long. >> tell us about your book, quickly, bob, because the title

is so intriguing. >> i wrote this book because i was involved in an attempt on saddam hussein in 1995, so i had a certain engagement in it and it was a failed attempt, of course, and i went back and looked at my mistakes and other people's mistakes on political murderp assassination is justified. we killed hitler in '44 and we have saved a lot of lives and destruction. but it is so difficult to reach, to meet all the rules i put down, it's almost -- you can't do it and expect to get anything. we could kill baghdadedy the head of isis and still have a mess in syria and iraq. so it's my personal narrative of modern assassination. >> bob, i want you to stand by. james reese, standby as well. at the bottom of the hour we will hear from the defense secretary chuck hagel and the chairman of the joint chiefs general martin dempsey speaking with reporters. you're looking at a live picture from the pentagon briefing room. live coverage and hopefully we can get your analysis after that

briefing. other news we're following, in a move that surprised some, angered others, kaci hickox defined the state of maine's quarantine orders and hopped on a bike and went for a ride. you will hear from the nurse fighting an ebola quarantine. that and a lot more news coming up. wouldn't it be great if hiring plumbers, carpenters shopping online is as easy as it gets. and even piano tuners were just as simple? thanks to angie's list, now it is. we've made hiring anyone from a handyman to a dog walker as simple as a few clicks. buy their services directly at angieslist.com no more calling around. no more hassles. start shopping from a list of top-rated providers today. angie's list is revolutionizing local service again. visit angieslist.com today. are the largest targets in the world, for every hacker, crook and nuisance in the world. but systems policed by hp's cyber security team are constantly monitored for threats.

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sense approach to avoid putting others at risk. today the federal government top infectious disease specialist says he understands the intentions of local governments. >> if you have a blanket, namely, just completely everybody can't do anything for 21 days, that we feel would be a major disincentive. that doesn't mean anybody promoting that are doing anything wrong. i believe the governors and others who have been pushing that, in good faith, are trying to protect their constituency. there's no criticism of them. it's just that as a health person, as a physician and a sciences test, i would say that you look at the data and it tells you what the risk is. >> our correspondent jean casarez is joining us live from fort kent in maine, near the canadian border. a pretty isolated part of the state. what's the latest on the showdown between the nurse, kaci hickox, and the state of maine?

>> well, wolf, we have heard for the first time today from the governor of the state of maine, governor lepage he has come out officially saying he has tried to work with the health care worker, negotiate, but negotiating ati negotiatingations have broken down and he will exercise the fullest extent of his authority. he does not delineate beyond that but what that means is going to court. we are in front of the health care worker's home, kaci is behind closed doors, she went for a bike ride this morning with her boyfriend and all of a sudden they just came out of the house and that was in essence violating the state requesting her to voluntarily remain in her home for those 21 days. she was gone for about an hour, came back with the boyfriend, then went back into the house and now we get this word from the governor. this small town community, wolfe, it is on the northern part of maine on the canadian border, a logging community. it's very split in how they feel

about this. some believe she should be able to mingle with the community, some say let's respect what the state is askingp. here is what kaci herself said when she came home from that bike ride. >> why a bike ride? >> this is something my partner and i like to do since we've moved here, this has been other trail. >> are you afraid with the state police around? >> i'm not afraid. >> have you heard anything from your lawyer? >> i haven't. we're still waiting to hear from the state of maine to see what they want to do. i hope that we can continue negotiations and work this out am mick kably. >> and we have heard from that governor of maine saying that negotiations have broken down. he will exercise his authority to the fullest extent and what that must mean he will now go to court and ask the judge for an order requiring a mandatory quarantine, but i have learned, wolf, that can be sealed, that can be confidential because this is a public health issue. wolf? >> and the state of maine is concerned, the governors is

concerned, she's in the middle of the 21 day period, she still has another ten days or so to go, before it's over. they're concerned not only was she in west africa but while she was there, she was actually treating ebola patients, is that the concern? >> i think that may be one of the concerns because the governor goes on in what he released talking about a case-by-case basis. there is some subjective here within the state of maine. when you're looking at someone just coming from west africa versus treating actual ebola patients, that is what this nurse did. and so that is why, quite possibly, there's been able to be no negotiation here. >> all right. thanks very much. we'll check back with you and let us know what's going on, jean casarez on the scene in maine. >> there's anger over the media coverage of ebola but wait until you see who's speak out against it. also isis is holding young women as sex slaves. up next we'll show you who's behind what's going on and why these young women are being

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from hagel written to the white house complaining of a lack of clarity as far as u.s. policy towards syria is concerned. we'll see what the secretary of defense has to say. presumably he'll be asked about the way isis is treating women and we have a special report that's coming up right now, women are not only being forced to leave their homes in syria and iraq, they are being humiliated, they are battered, they're being kidnapped and they are being brutally raped repeatedly by these isis terrorists. teenagers, turned into sex slaves, by isis. our senior international correspondent ivan watson spoke to one young victim. >> janna was a 19-year-old high school senior with dreams of becoming a doctor when isis first came to her village. >> translator: they came to the village and said you have to convert to islam or we will kill you. >> reporter: janna, not her real fame, is from the village of cotra, a community of ethnic kurds from the yazidi religious

minority which were surrounded and occupied by isis early last august. soon after she says isis ordered the entire village to go to the school where they stole all the people's jewelry, money and cell phones and then separated the men from the women. according to a united nations report, isis then gathered all males older than 10 years of age, took them outside the village by pick-up trucks and shot them. a different fate lay in store for the women. >> translator: they separated the girls and the women who had children and the old women. they took us girls to mosul to a big three-story house. >> reporter: she says there were hundreds of girls in the house and they got visits from the men of isis. >> translator: they came to the room and looked around at the girls and if they liked one, they chose her and took her. if the girls cried and didn't want to leave, they beat the girl. the guy who chose me was 70 years old and he took me to his

house. there were four yazidi girls there already. they hit us and they didn't give us enough to eat or drink. they told us we were infidels. he put me in a room and put a gun to my head and i was on the ground and he said, i will kill you because you won't convert to islam. that night they came and took an 11-year-old girl away. and when she came back, she told me they raped her. >> these women have suffered severe psychological trauma. they've been systemically raped not by one person but by different men at the same time. >> reporter: this doctor is an adviser to the kurdistan regional government and an expert on gender violence. she says isis kidnapped more than 2,500 yazidi women last august after mounting an offensive that triggered a mass exodus of hundreds of thousands of yazidis and other iraqi minorities. since then, she says the captive

women have been bought and sold across iraq and syria, like cattle. >> they have two main. first by giving them these young girls and women. secondly, to human late and expose these women into slavery and systemic rape. >> reporter: that fits an account we heard from an isis fighter held in a kurdish prison in syria. >> translator: when someone joins isis, they give him a girl, marry them off and maybe $2,000. >> reporter: since august kurdish authorities succeeded in rescuing only a thousand of the kidnapped yazidi women. >> so far we managed to rescue about 100 women. >> reporter: she says all of those rescued say they were raped. >> if you could say something to the men who took you to his

house, what would you want to tell this guy? >> translator: i don't want to tell him anything. i just want to kill him. >> reporter: ivan watson, cnn, erbil, iraqi kurdistan. >> as horrible as you think these isis terrorists might be, a report like that underscores the nature of what's going on in iraq and syria right now. i want to thank ivan for the excellent reporting all week long. many have argued the focus of the fight against ebola needs to be taken straight to west africa and among those making that argument is cnn's own aisha. we will ask her about her comments about the epidemic that have raised eyebrows. s aisha is standing by live. safely whitens teeth, iy but also restores enamel. lose the nerves, and get a healthier, whiter smile that you'll love. listerine® healthy white™.

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we're standing by for a news conference over the department of defense at the pentagon. you're looking at live pictures over there. the secretary of defense, chuck hagel, chairman of the u.s. joint chiefs of staff general martin dempsey, they will be sitting in the seats over there and answer reporters questions. this comes amid reports out there including a report from barbara starr at the pentagon that hagel wrote a tough memo to the white house over path few weeks criticizing the lack of clarity as far as the u.s. policy towards syria is concerned.

no doubt there will be questions on that. questions on what's going on in the war against isis in iraq and syria and presumably about the die employment of thousands of u.s. troops to west africa. as many as 4,000 will be deployed to deal with the ebola crisis there that all u.s. troops once they leave west africa they will be forced into a 21-day quarantine, no matter what their responsibilities, what their jobs were there. we'll have live coverage coming up momentarily. standby for that. while leaders in the united states debate the best way to prevent a major outbreak of ebola on u.s. soil in west africa officials are struggling to contain outbreaks that have turned into major ep diplomatm epidemics. more than 13,000 are believed to be infected and many people say that's where the media's attention belongs. our own international anchor aisha is joining us now, joining us from abuja in nigeria. you were recently a packagist at

a media forum in tanzania and passionate about where the world's focus need to be right now. tell our viewers in the united states and around the world what's on your mind? >> hi there, wolf. well many of your viewers may not know that i'm actually sierra leonen. i grew up in sierra leone and went to school in sierra leone, my mother is there, brother, grandmother and countless others living through the ebola nightmare at present. for me this is not just a big news story. the lives of my loved ones are at risk. i'm troubled, quite frankly, i'm troubled by the coverage that is coming out of the united states. let's be clear, as you rightly pointed out, there have been almost 5,000 deaths from ebola in the three worst affected countries, sierra leone, liberia and guinea. families have been torn apart, communities are in tatters, you have more than 2,000 orphans in

liberia alone, you are just as likely to die from complications of child birth and a broken leg in these countries now because the primary health care systems have collapsed. there are orphans, hunger, so much suffering and devastation. and yet, when i look at the coverage coming out of the united states, it is disproportionately focused on the handful of ebola cases that have sprung up in the united states. cases that we need to cover, wolf, don't get me wrong, they need to be covered, but let's face it, and let's focus on where the crisis is playing out right now. in my view, these people, the people of sierra leone and guinea need the world to stand with them to show them support and that has been in short supply. >> we know that the u.s. is sending as many as 4,000 military personnel to deal with this crisis. it's a huge crisis. these numbers are official numbers. you and i know and a lot of our viewers know the numbers probably are a lot higher, the

unofficial death, unofficial people who have contracted ebola. the u.s. is sending 4,000 troops. i don't see but, you know, you're closer to the situation than i am. are other nations in europe, in asia, in south america, is the rest of the world getting involved in this huge crisis there? >> and that's the question. my question, quite simply, where is the international community? there are a couple of countries that are doing incredible work, the united states among them, the u.k., led by david cameron is also stepping up to the plate, but we've heard from president obama himself say, the international community needs to do more. ban ki-moon the head of the united nations says the international response needs to be scaled up 20 fold. wolf, people are making pledges, they are saying they will help and that help is not materializing. the result is that more people are dying, which increases the risk to other countries beyond africa. so my focus and what i say to

the international community is, you need to step up. what i say to our international and american viewers is we need to be putting pressure on international leaders and asking them to step up because if they don't step up and respond to this crisis at the source, in west africa, then it will become a bigger problem for people living in the united states and around the world and also wolf, on a simple case of humanity, sheer humanity, love for your fellow man, the international community needs to be doing more. >> well said, indeed. isha, thanks so much. send our best wishes to your family in sierra leone, your loved ones there, everyone there. we're obviously praying for all of them and thanks for all of the important reporting that you're doing for our viewers here in the united states and around the world. thanks very much. isha sesay. is the united states relationship with one of its closest allies namely israel in trouble right now? there's some tension developing between the u.s. and israel over

the past couple days. today a senior israeli delegation is heading over to the white house. we'll have a report. also this -- >> not quite what you would expect from a coast guard rescue. just ahead, exclusive footage to show you of the immigration battle on the shores of the united states. male announcer ] are you so stuffed up, you feel like you're underwater? try zyrtec-d® to powerfully clear your blocked nose and relieve your other allergy symptoms... so you can breathe easier all day. zyrtec-d®. find it at the pharmacy counter.

concerns have escalated following an article in "the atlantic" quoting an unnamed obama administration using the salting term to describe the israeli prime minister. let's bring in our senior white house correspondent jim acosta monitoring what's going on. what are you hearing about the administration's response to this "atlantic" article, the overall relationship between the u.s. and israel? >> well, wolf, they are definitely still trying to clean up. they're in damage control mode after this very explosive comment that appeared in "the atlantic" magazine a couple days ago. the reporter jeffrey goldberg tweeting and reporting that a senior administration official

here at the white house had described bibi netanyahu, the israeli prime minister, as, quote, chicken expletive, can't use the word on television, and all day yesterday at the white house briefing as you know press secretary josh earnest tried to explain that is not the view of the president, not the view of the administration, but then secretary of state john kerry earlier this morning he was appearing at the washington ideas forum which has been going on over the last couple days and he actually used some very tough language to say that this does not represent the views of the administration and he frankly called this comment from this unnamed official damaging. here's what secretary kerry had to say. >> we condemn anybody who uses language such as was used in this article. that does not reflect the president, it does not reflect me. it is disgraceful, unacceptable, damaging, and i think neither

president obama nor i -- i've never heard that word around me in the white house. i don't know who these anonymous people are that keep getting quoted but they make life much more difficult and we are proud of what we have done to help israel through very difficult time. >> reporter: now, it is no secret on the world stage that president obama and prime minister netanyahu don't have the best of relationships, but white house officials continue to say that the president has met with netanyahu more than any other world leader and as you mentioned, wolf, susan rice, national security adviser, is going to be meeting with her israeli counterparts over here at the white house. this is described as a biannual meeting they have on a regular basis to talk about these issues, but wolf, these issues that really are at the heart of the some pretty tense relations between the united states and israel right now, are pretty well known. the settlements that are being built in the west bank, you know, even yesterday, the press

secretary josh earnest described those settlements as illegitimate. you don't really need to talk to unnamed sources, wolf, but you can get it on the record that there are pretty strong disagreements on the issues. as for the iran nuclear program which is the other sticking point, john kerry said earlier this morning at the washington ideas forum that iran will not get a bomb and he once again said that no deal is better than a bad deal and, of course, we know that november 24th is the deadline for those nuclear discussions and negotiations between the u.s. and the p-5 and iran. >> let's see what happens between now and november 25. all right. jim acosta, good report. thanks very much. the personal relationship between the prime minister of israel and the president of the united states may not be great right now, in part because of israel's settlement policies in east jerusalem and the west bank, but there are other issues as well. let's go to the pentagon right now. the secretary of defense chuck hagel is answering reporters questions. >> both mill larry in backing the moderate opposition and mr.

chairman, for you, can you give us an update on where the train and equip mission stands for the moderate syrian opposition? whether or not the vetting, whether that's begun or not? >> leann, in answering your question, first, the inner agency, all of the agencies relevant to national security in this government, are working on the syria/isil/middle east/iraq issue. certainly the department of defense is a key part of that, but the syria equation of this bigger issue of stability in the middle east, as the president has said, is going to require diplomatic/political solution. that said the realities of what isil is doing, control of vast

areas of syria and iraq, are forcing all of us in a coalition of over 60 countries, to come together to deal with this immediate threat. the future of syria, which the nations of the middle east have a significant investment in that stability, is going to require all elements, not only of our government, but all of the countries in the middle east and others working together to find a solution to bring peace in syria, stabilize that region of the world, and we're constantly assessing and we are constantly adapting and we are constantly working through different options. this is complicated, as we've said, it's long term, there's no short-term easy answer to it. so your question about should we be more aggressive?

we look at every option. that's why we meet so often on this issue. this is why we are building and continue to build an effective coalition in the middle east to deal with these issues. >> on the training and equipping of a moderate opposition, the command and control apparatus is in place, the sites have been selected and the reconnaissance conducted to determine what infrastructure we'll need to accomplish the mission. coalition partners are beginning to contribute trainers to the effort. the recruiting vetting has not yet begun. >> dan? >> so they're just getting started over there at the pentagon. let's take a quick break and resume our coverage right after this.

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the u.s. coast guard is seeing a record number of migrants trying to make it to the united states by crossing one of the most deadly waterways in the western hemisphere, the florida straits. in a cnn exclusive, we went along with the u.s. coast guard to get a firsthand look at what's happening. >> we got eyes on him. >> reporter: a graumt scene plays out in the florida straits. a united states coast guard plane spots this small boating packed with 29 cubans including

several women and at least one young boy. the boat is taking on water. >> so it's coming on scene. >> reporter: yet when the coast guard cutter arrives to help the group's leader refuses to cooperate. >> they are claiming they are -- >> reporter: eventually the group gives up and gives in. >> they got them now. >> reporter: joining the growing number of migrants rescued making this deadly journey to the u.s.. >> we've been seeing the highest migration levels from cuba and haiti. >> reporter: roughly 10,000 migrants have been found in this area just this year. that's more than 3,000 than the year before. the biggest spike, cubans whose numbers have doubled since the castro government lifted travel restrictions in 2012. >> you have to be pretty desperate to go into open water and just try to make it, no? >> yeah, it is. >> reporter: it's dangerous. >> most of it is economic, you

know. they are looking for a better way of life. >> reporter: the lieutenant is the commanding officer of the norville, one of the agency's newest hi-tech ships. >> this is the front line of coast guard operations. this is where the action happens. >> reporter: we wanted to get a firsthand look at the action. so we spent a few days on board the norville and what we saw was sobering. a few hours into our journey -- the norville takes on 10 migrants. the lights of the u.s. shine in the distance. this is the closest this group will get. a doctor is concerned the last one may be suicidal, refusing to eat after telling the coast guard this was his ninth attempt to reach america. so you see they put man on the stretcher, on the cutter, safely. but it doesn't appear he's responding at this point. it's unclear what they will do with him. we know that the remaining nine

migrants are all in the same area on this boat and they probably will be here until the process runs its course. in the early morning hours another group of cuban my grants is found barely moving, idling what appears to be the middle of nowhere. each one is given a life vest before being transferred the cutter. their small boat is filled with gasoline. and shot up with a 50 caliber machine gun. a fire sinks the tiny boat. on the cutter migrants wear tyvek suits to stay dry and given red beans and rice to eat twice a day and a rubber mat to sleep on. some interact with coast guard members like ronald garcia cuban-american himself. >> it's tiflt to see the situation that they are in. >> reporter: in all we saw about

80 cuban migrants in four days with the coast guard. all of them with desperation in their eyes. for most their search for a new life is over at least for now. of the 80 migrants we saw, 29 cubans who were found on a u.s. territory were allowed to stay in the u.s. because of a long standing policy that only applies to cubans. most migrants who are found at sea are usually sent back regardless of their country of origin. wolf? >> thanks for that report. i want to add this note this is just coming in to cnn. new numbers from the u.s. coast guard in florida this week they found dozens of migrants off the miami coast. four have died in the journey. we're down to the final days until the mid-term elections here in the united states and the races are very close in several states. here's the question. why? what will make the difference in these final days? i.

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the most impressive number of all. introducing the all-new mercedes-benz gla. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. five days until the mid-term elections here in the u.p.s. and there are seven battleground states with exceedingly close senate race right now. gloria, these races are so close and the question is why? >> because voters are out there expressing their anger, their disappointment and fear. two out of three of them don't trust government to take out the garbage. a majority of them, a majority of the senate democrats are up in those red states. and so that's causing a lot of problems for them.

you have an unpopular president, you have an unpopular government, you have people holding their noses and saying, okay, i got to choose between the lesser of two evils. it's no surprise that you go through these races that are close but it's hard to remember a time when you had that many within the margin of error at the same time. >> key will be turnout, who will inspire the base to get out there. mid-term athletics they never voted in the percentage they do in presidential elections. >> this is the question every democrat will debate after the election. should president obama have been used in these let states to get out his base voters or should he be staying in the rose garden as he's largely doing. democrats have a large get out the vote effort. will it work this time? have republicans caught up. can they get their vote towers the poll. you can make up a few points if you can get vote towers the poll. in a lot of states now you can

mail in your ballots, you can vote early, so that also impacts the outcome of an election like this. >> we'll have a better ground game and know in a few days. a lot more on this story coming up not only later today in the situation room but in the days ahead. >> that's it for me. thanks for watching. for our international view ears check of your headlines coming up right after this. right now, in fact, for our north american viewers newsroom with brooke baldwin starts right now. all right. great to be with all of you. i'm brooke baldwin. just twin hour the governor of maine has just released a statement about doctors without borders nurse kaci hickox and her pledge not to follow a quarantine. that state has asked her to follow. the thing s-these two sides cannot reach an agreement. here is more from the governor. >> i don't want her within three feet of