him on the electoral front that the point. >> we should point out you reached out to his office aefr over and over and over ghen and quite unlike them the dbt get back to you with any response. >> no response. >> athena thanks so much. that's it for "the lead." i turn you now over to one mr. wolf blitzer, right next door in a room we call "the situation room." thanks for watching. happening now rail disaster. a major commuter train slams into a truck, raising a massive fireball and leaving dozens hurt. the latest in a series of train crashes. why are they still happening? ally or terror bank? as the president meets with the amir of qatar there are questions whether a key u.s. ally is secretly funding a terrorist group. out of cash. those who protect borders may be about to lose their paychecks thanks to congressional gridlock. and frozen. still covered in ice, now bracing for a dangerous now storm in the south.

but 48 million people could soon be facing it. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." breaking new. experts from the national transportation safety board are joining investigators at the scene of a fiery commuter train collision near los angeles. this was the scene moments after the train hit a produce truck. the truck driver says he turned onto the tracks rather than onto a nearby highway. but he got out. the train couldn't stop in time. five cars derailed, three coming to rest on their sides. 28 people on the train are hurt 4 of them critically. officials say special technology prevented the accident from being far worse. we'll speak live with the former chair of the national transportation safety board deborah hurz man. and our correspondents and analysts are standing by as well as our newsmakers to follow all the news breaking right now. let's begin with our national

correspondent at the scene of the accident near oxnard california. what's the latest you're hearing on the scene about this investigation? >> well the investigation is still ongoing. they're trying to talk to the witnesses, and there were quite a few of them because the explosion here wolf was so loud. this fireball in the sky lit up the predawn hours. what happened here began with driver confusion. the driver of a produce truck got confused and thought that this railway was actually a roadway. he turned onto the tracks driving down those tracks. the oncoming train unable to hit the brakes in time to come to a full stop 49 people aboard who were just heading to work were thrown about this train. three railcars are basically just lying on their sides like toys. there are a number of injuries three people remain critical. as far as the driver, you mentioned, wolf he was able to get out of his vehicle.

but he did walk away about one to two miles away he was found wandering completely confused. but i is cooperating we're told with investigators. >> the people who are critically injured are in intensive care at local hospitals? is that right? >> reporter: yes. three of them are. they are fight forge their lives, we are told. one of them is a conductor who did hit the emergency brake. he tried to stop the vehicle, simply could not stop in time. we're told that this train was traveling about 70 miles an hour. he just didn't have time. other people had broken bones as well as head trauma. it's incredible, wolf. this could have been far worse had this new technology that you referenced not been in place. >> oxnard california thank you. today's accident in california comes just three weeks after the deadly commuter train wreck in new york. yet another collision at a rail crossing. brian todd has been looking into

the persistent and deadly problems that we're facing right now on the rails. >> a persistent problem, wolf even though, to many it would seem to be an easy hazard to avoid. at most intersections between train tracks and roads you've got barriers you've got bells, warning lights. but tonight safety experts are telling us these so-called highway-grade crossings are deceptively dangerous. as crash investigators arrive on the scene of another accident between a train and a motor vehicle new concerns tonight about the safety of rail crossings. in california it was the truck driver officials say who took an incomplicationable wrong turn. >> rather than make the right turn onto westbound fifth street it turned yoon to the railroad tracks. >> the driver was unhurt and experts say was fortunate to get away from the onrushing train. >> the power of the train impacting a vehicle is the same as a car -- >> libby of the group operation

life saver says so-called highway grade crossings are often lethal intersections. just this month, a net troh-north train collided with an suv outside new york city, killing six people. the government says fatalities at railroad crossings have decreased about 75% in the u.s. since the 1970s. but safety experts say there are still about 2,000 incidents a year at those crossings, more than 200 people killed at those intersections last year. and a train hits a person or a vehicle every three hours in the u.s. why? >> we think drivers are very distracted in their cars. crossings like this, i think when the drivers approach, sometimes drivers are in a hurry in this society today. people feel very rushed and think they can beat a train. >> other fact rz? director snipe says there aren't standard barriers or signals at every crossing.

trains are quieter and faster than they were. and vehicle drivers make tragic miscalculations. >> what is it that people don't understand? >> if a train is coming this way, it can take an average train up to a mile to stop. that's the length of 18 football fields. so if a train sees something on the tracks it can't necessarily stop in time. >> director snipe says if you're stuck on a track, some steps are obvious. try to somehow get the vehicle off the track. if you can't, exit the vehicle and run. now, what is not so obvious, libby rector snipe says if you're stuck at a place like this, say this is the motor vehicle here, and you have to run away from your vehicle and a train is coming this way, try to run toward the oncoming train but do it at a 45-degree angle so you're running away from the track. that way you can avoid the collision coming this way and the debris that is all going to be coming this way. if you try to run this way, you're in trouble.

toward it but at a 45 degree angle angle. >> drivers can alert the railroad that's something wrong, right? >> most crossings have an emergency notification system with a telephone number on it where vehicle drivers who are stuck can run to the sign, call that number. that's one of the signs there. if you want to know what it looks like. if you make that call, that will alert the railroad that there is something wrong with the track. if there is enough time they could possibly stop the train. often as we know there isn't enough time but sometimes there is. >> very useful information. brian thanks very much. let's get more now. joining us in "the situation room," the former ntsb chair deborah hursman. thank you very much for joining us. the ntsb this is standard operating procedure, have now sent a go team to the site of the crash. what will they be looking for? >> well, they're going to be looking first to really gather up any perishable evidence.

they'll look to interview any witnesses and make sure that they've really got that scene locked down. they want to capture any video or any black box type of recorders right away. >> are trains secure right now? because we're seen these accidents, these train derailments aplenty in the last several weeks. >> you know, there was a discussion earlier, 2,000 of these events occur every year. what we see is that there are several hundred fatalities 250, across the u.s. and many more injuries. what we saw in new york three weeks ago and what we saw here in california are great examples of what we don't want to see happen. so we've got to do better serm as certainly as a society. and california leads the nation when it comes to fatalityies at grade crossings. >> we know the driver in this particular case was drive egg produce truck.

here's what worries a lot of experts smaeshl sespecially in this day of terror. what if the truck was loaded with explosives? how do you deal with that? >> you know, we've seen so many times that these events actually result in something much more catastrophic than expected. certainly we often see the driver of the car the driver of the truck being injured. but three weeks ago we actually saw more fatalities on the train. i think those really demonstrate to us just in a single incident how catastrophic the outcome could be. certainly if there was someone intending or purposeful in their efforts it could be even worse. >> this is the third train derailment this month alone. the metro-north disaster in westchester outside of new york city, the crude oil carrier derailment in west virginia which was awful. i guess the bottom line question is is there a bigger problem we're facing here in the united states with trains? >> you know i think there is a

longstanding issue when it comes to grade crossing safety and so when we look at how to make improvements, it has to do with not just education of the driving population but also improved technology and improved devices at these grade crossings. and so a lot of work has been done, but certainly this type of situation is going to make people certainly in this busy corridor in california question the need of whether or not they need to do further investment to grade separate that road and the grade crossing with the train. >> explain what you mean by grade crossing. >> sure. there are over 200,000 at-grade intersections. that's where the road and train tracks are going to cross each other. there are over 200,000 of these across the u.s. about half of the accidents that occur about half of the collisions, 50% of them that

involve fatalities actually occur at active grade crossings. so some crossings only have a sign the cross buck to tell you there's a train. and the drivers are responsible for stopping looking and listening. but others have active devices. they have bells. they have gates. they have lights that flash. but we see 50% of the fatalities still occurring at those actively protected grade crossings. so it's really important for drivers not only to observe those crossings but not try to beat the train. don't be impatient and certainly don't be distracted when you're at a grade crossing so you miss hearing those bells and miss seeing the lights and those gates coming down. >> a lot of people think they're faster than the train and try to zip across the tracks when ub unfortunately it's too late as you point out, for them and the train. so in this particular case, it was 5:30 a.m. local time.

a produce truck driver makes a wrong turn drives into this area. obviously eventually sees this train coming and starts running away. so how do you deal with this? what's the most important lesson we should learn from what happened this morning outside of los angeles? >> well, i think it certainly is about being aware of your surroundings and making sure that particularly in dark nighttime conditions that you are very cautious if you're not familiar with the area making sure you're well rested so you're not fatigued. and not distracted. so once you get onto those tracks and certainly with certain kinds of trucks in certain situations if you get stuck on those tracks, there's very little that can be donnelle. it's about knowing where you are and not getting into that situation in the first place. >> good advice. deborah hersman, i want you to stand by. we'll have much more on the story coming up. i want to take a quick break. we'll be right back.

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open a day when activists report the kidnapping of dozens of christians from isis president obama invited a crucial ally which provides american forces with a launching point for attacks against isis. but there are also new questions on whether that ally secretly supports some terrorists. our white house correspondent michelle kaosinski is looking into the question. >> reporter: the white house keeps emphasizing the importance of regional arab partnerships but the relationships can be complicated to say the least. interesting today to see the president sit down with the amir of qatar which has been

criticized with one of the top sources of private funding for isis and other terror groups. as syria's civil war rages on isis this morning kidnaps some 90 christians from northeastern towns, according to a human rights group. spreading its reach while kurdish and syrian fighters on the ground try to battle it back. secretary of state john kerry today defended the u.s. response. >> what we have here is a criminal anarchy that we are fighting that is trying to claim legitimacy under religion and a whole bunch of people are fight fighting back. >> reporter: at the white house, the amir of qatar was welcomed. >> we had a significant meeting of the minds. we are both committed to make sure isil is defeated. >> reporter: committed and meeting of the minds isn't exactly a view shared by everyone. according to reports qatar is the biggest source of private funding for isis. at the same time that it's home

to a key u.s. air base for launching air strikes against the terrorists. qatar's state-endorsed main mosque has hosted a study streak of -- egypt started bombing isis in libya this month, qatar opposed it. accurate numbers are hard to come by on how much money flows from wealthy donors to isis thought to be significant only part of a total of isis' daily haul of around $1 million. >> do you acknowledge that sutqatar has been a source of private donations to isis and other terrorist groups? >> michelle whashgs we acknowledge is that there are areas where we disagree with the qatarees but more often we find that our interests overlap. >> reporter: can you say whether pressure is on thim now to stop the financing? >> we believe there's more we can do together to shut down the financing of terror operations around the globe. >> reporter: other u.s. allies in this fight, saudi arabia,

kuwait, have been accused of not doing enough to crack down on the private forces of funding. the whies white house will continue to work with qatar has been a, quote, effective partner partner. as the president said to cnn in an interview, sometimes you have to balance these issue was the immediate fight at hand wolf. >> michelle kosinski at the white house thank you. meanwhile new terror threats are emerging every day. thanks to partisan gridlock on capitol hill, the department of homeland security, which is supposed to protect all of us, is due to run out much funds in four days. are we looking at a potentially very dangerous shutdown. dana bash has the latest. >> reporter: wolf, the chances of that diminished greatly just in the past couple of hours because the senate republican leader effectively caved to what democrats have been demanding, a clean vote on the funding bill for the department of homeland security. but going from that concession to votes in the senate and the

house could take time and as you said just four days until it runs out of money. unless congress acts the tsa which keeps airports safe the coast guard which keeps america's waters safe and the secret service which keeps the president safe, would lose funding. >> let the department of homeland security do its job for america for americans. >> democrats continue to try to protect funding for the president's unconstitutional actions. >> reporter: tonight senate republicans backed off a bit, saying they would fund homeland security as democrats demanded as long as they also vote to end the president's plan giving legal status to millions of undocumented grants. >> an opportunity for them to express their disapproval of what the president did in november. >> reporter: but democrats want assurances house republicans will fully fund homeland security. >> the burden is on the republicans, what they're doing is wrong for the country and they not only will be blamed they should be blamed for it. >> reporter: if the department

does shut down it would mean some 30,000 furloughs. but the vast majority of workers from tsa to border patrol to secret service agents would still be required to work in most cases without pay. >> they would have to come to work. so is it really going to be that big of a deal to most of your agency to -- when it comes to the risk to this country? >> yes, it is that big of deal. let's not forget the department of homeland security interface was the american public more than any other department in the government. at airports at ports. >> reporter: this is the first big leadership test for republicans since taking control of congress, proving they can govern yet still emgracing conservatives who want to challenge the president. and it success a test for freshmen republicans who campaigned on ending washington dysfunction. >> there's a difference between having a dysfunction in which a system work and a case of where you have disagreements among members of the united states senate.

having disagreements -- >> reporter: which is this? >> this is a disagreement among the united states senate. >> reporter: it's pretty dysfunctional to be on the brink of the homeland security department shutting down. >> we're not there right now. they were smart enough to extend it before. >> reporter: and it looks like that could happen again. but if you call it dysfunction or disagreement, whatever you call it, wolf, senate republican leaders at this hour appear to have chosen governing over appealing to their conservative bails. as you can imagine many in that base who wanted to keep the fight on to push ahead on getting rid of this executive order on immigration are not happy. we're still waiting to hear from ted cruz who could slow things down in the senate. then of course we have to see what will happen in the house. the house speaker has not yet agreed to take up this clean bill, which would keep that department running. >> and this clean bill as you say, when is that vote expected in the senate? >> to be determined. a lot of it depends as i said on whether or not some republicans, maybe even some democrats but

more likely republicans will slow it down. it could be as soon as tomorrow. it could be deadline day, friday. again, that's the senate. house republicans are going to have to go through their own mash nations as we've seen before to try to convince many in their rank and file to convince them to keep the department running. >> not a done deal yet. dana, thanks very much. let's find out what at least one republican member of the house of representatives is going to do. joining us illinois republican congressman adam kin zinger. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> if the senate passes what's called this clean bill to fund the department of homeland security and not allow it to at least even partially shut down it comes to a vote in the house of representatives, will you vote in favor or against? >> i'll vote in favor. i hope it gets to come over. we've been saying from the beginning and the speaker has said, look, the house worked its will, we passed this defunding of the executive order.

there's questions about how effective this would be being as how a lot of these are funded by revenue. but now we have to see what the senate can do can they pass a clean appropriations bill? when the senate passes what they pass, it will come to the house. i think at that point we have a decision to make. i hope the decision is to govern, to continue to protect our country. the other thing, just a couple of weeks ago, the court basically arrested this issue and said now we will determine if this is in fact constitutional. so that's where the fight is. >> you have a clear out since the whole thing is on hold as the judicial process goes forward, this federal judge in texas said you can't, mr. president, implement what you wanted to do by executive order as far as these undocumented immigrants are concerned. so it's not going to happen at least in the short term in any case until it plays out in the courts. >> i think that's really where the fight is. i can say it's unconstitutional as much as i want, i really believe it is, but i'm not the court. i don't get to determine that one. uf can understand from a republican sper expectative how

we feel like the president has gone around the constitution declared something that should be convict through the congressional process. >> my working assumption is it will pass this clean bill the senate, maybe tomorrow, maybe thursday, it will come to the house. the speaker john boehner will allow it to come up for a vote. all the democrats virtually will support it, a lot of republicans am. it will pass. the department of homeland security will not be forced to shut down. >> i can't speak for the speaker. but i assume if the senate passes this, the speaker has always said, let's see what the senate can do and we'll make a decision. if the senate shows this is what they can do at least i've made it clear that shutting down the government is not the answer and especially at a time where we have such a heightened terror threat against our people. >> i want you to stand by. we have more to talk about. you're speaking about a heightened time of terror. we have details i want you to weigh in adam kin assistzinger from illinois, will be with us when we return.

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we're back with the illinois republican congressman adam kinzinger. he served in iraq and afghanistan. congressman, i want to play a clip. this is the president of the united states meeting in the oval office with the amir of qatar a critically important country in that part of the world. listen to this. >> qatar is a strong partner in our coalition to degrade and ultimately defeat isil and i express my appreciation to his highness for the work that they've done in coordinating with other members of this

coalition. we are both committed to making sure that isil is defeated. >> as you know, it's a string relationship to a certain degree that the united states has with qatar. there are two military bases there. maybe 8,000 or 9,000 american troops always there. but at the same time the u.s. officials suspect qatar is still funneling money to terrorist groups. you're on the inside. what do you know about this? >> this is the whole quandary of the middle east. qatar has said to some extent publicly that they in essence play all sides of the aisle because they're a small country and they feel like they need to hedge for protection from everywhere. and to some extent that's true. you may see private donations coming out of qatar. we can see even in whatever country there may be people who privately support whatever they want to support. there's no doubt qatar can do more to ratchet that down. it's time frankly for them to choose sides. this isn't a battle where you can play both sides. either you're with isis or 100%

committed against them. if you're against them, you need to join the coalition in a strong way committed to zroig them. qatar has done great things. we have our military bases there, where i spent some time, but they need to do more. i think this is essential that the united states pin them down and say, you've got to take sides. >> i'm sure that's what the president discussed with the amir in the oval office today. very disturbing development, 90 christians in syria were abducted by isis by these isis terrorists, including children and women. we don't know what's happened to these people but it's -- what do they want with these christians? why are they going after these christians in syria? >> there's multiple reasons. number one, they want to horrify the west. number two, they maybe can get a ransom from it. they think they can make money from it. but number three, there's a legitimate belief that if you're a christian you are deserving to be kidnapped and ultimately

executed. that's what these radicals believe. so we have so recognize that. we have to understand it. and i think what we're going to see unfortunately is for the next few years until we have a very solid policy in syria which i have not heard articulated from the administration. i would not want to be a christian in syria facing the brutality of bashar al assad and the brew tal pitty of isis. >> tough being christian in iraq as well. and in other parts of the middle east as well. >> well this is really where we need to give a shout-out to the kurds. i was kurdistan months ago. they have displaced people. they've taken in christians muslims everybody. they say, basically, if you're a human you're worthy of life. in many cases if you go to ur biel and the kurdistan region they shelter these folks. you see peshmerga forces

fighting to defend them. you see egypt fighting to defend their christians. they're examples of some positive stuff out there that we really alt to telegraph to the world. >> so you served in afghanistan. you served in iraq. i want to share with you some information barbara starr is getting from the defense department. the u.s. is now sending over to the iraqi military getting ready presumably for some sort of advance against the isis occupation of mosul, the second largest city in iraq shipments including rifles, m-68 close kbakt opt kell scopes 23,000 ammunition magazines. a lot of other military equipment as well. initially it will cost about 17$17 million. couple of questions. the u.s. taxpayers are paying for this. iraq is a major oil exporting country, a member of opec. why are american taxpayers paying for all of this military stuff that's being sent over to the iraqi army? why aren't the iraqis

reimbursing the united states? >> well look i'd love to see a situation where they do. keep in mind also we're probably competing with the iranians happy to give their weapons for free to iraq but comes with strings. it's in our interest to make sure the iraqis don't side with the rainians in this fight. keep in mind oil prices are down significantly so the iraqi budget has a pretty significant hole in it. >> i think they've got enough money to pay for this weaponry. but the other issue is maybe even more worrisome because if you take a look at all the other military hardware the u.s. left behind when it left iraq, what did the iraqi military do when a few thousand isis terrorists came in took over mosul they ran away left all this sophisticated u.s. military equipment. isis now has all of this stuff. they're killing people with u.s. equipment. and the concern is all of this new stuff the u.s. is handing over to the iraqi military, who knows if the iraqi military will really show up or abandon the

positions once there's a real fight. >> i think that's a legitimate concern. but i think from the united states' perspective, when the iraqi army melted away probably the rank and file fighter was ready to fight. they were probably pretty good. the problem is the leadership which was infused with these political leaders instead of professional leaders meltded away. and as a soldier, if you see your leadership run away, you'll run, too. and they abandoned the equipment. unfortunately, we have a choice. use the iraqi military totally disengage in the middle east or use 100,000 american troops. i don't think the american people are ready for that. >> there are kurdish troopsish the peshmerga. but the u.s. doesn't provide weapons directly to them. it has to go through the shiite-led government in baghdad. the kurds as you know are not very happy about that ff no. we absolutely should direct arm them. but keep in mind today they're defending a 1,000 kilometer border with isis with 250,000 troops. that's the equivalent of washington, d.c., to chicago,

illinois. >> i wish the iraqi military will show up. i'm still not convinced they will. but let's hope they do. congressman thanks very much. adam kinzinger. up next, the disturbing mystery. who's behind the unexplained drone buzzing popular tourist sites? stay with us. what the cloud enables is computing to empower cancer researchers. it used to take two weeks to sequence and analyze a genome; with the microsoft cloud we can analyze 100 per day. whatever i can do to help compute a cure for cancer, that's what i'd like to do. (woman) the constipation and belly pain feel tight like a vise. how can i ease this pain? (man) when i can't go, it's like rocks piling up. i wish i could find some relief. (announcer) ask your doctor about linzess-- a once-daily capsule for adults with ibs with constipation or chronic idiopathic constipation.

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and a funding fight threatens to shut down the department of homeland security. let's bring in our national security commentator mike rogers, the former republican congressman served as chairman of the intelligence committee, also joined by jane harman the ranking democrat on the house intelligence committee, now president and ceo of the wilson center here in washington. these u.s.-led coalition air strikes against isis it certainly hasn't curbed their terror appetite at least any indication i've seen. have you? >> no. and if you listen to the president's words, they're crafted pretty carefully about stopping their advance. and so what that means is that we haven't degraded their capabilities both inside syria and iraq. >> why are they going after christians right now? >> for the very reason we're talking about it right now. this is huge pr value for them. and it invokes fear. and the one thing they want is they want the western civilized nations to have that feeling of fear and hopelessness. that's why they're taking christians, having very

public -- i fear for the lives of the christian that's they have. i have a feeling it will be very public and brutal. >> these jane harman these aren't just christian men but women and children too, who have been abducted, 90 yigs christians in syria. >> their claim is their, quote, religious beliefs don't tolerate people who are other than their form of muslim. there's also pr value in their targeting nonmuslims because that's a message to the west that they're targeting the west. that obviously is in their sights. >> you know, what's worrisome also in the midst of the terror threats there's this fight whether or not the department of homeland security should be funded. you just left congress. you're probably pretty happy you're not there anymore. how do you explain this? because that seems like a no-brainer. don't fool around with funding the department of homeland security. >> i say i miss the clowns but not the circus. what we have here i think is exactly that. once the court decided they were going to take that position of stopping --

>> the federal judge in texas. >> absolutely. >> he put the executive order that the president put forward on hold. >> i thought that was a great opportunity for the house to say, great, now the court has it, that was their position all along, both republican conferences were saying that's what they wanted to happen. it did ham. i think they should go happy and fund it. and file the court. >> they will fund it by friday night, right? >> i think they will fund it. it makes no sense not to. the question is how long? the latest rumors is mitch mcconnell will put a resolution through the fiscal year through november. >> but that happens a lot. the crs that keep the government running. that's not unusual. >> well no. but the rest of the government is actually has an authorized budget. this is less good. it prevents the department from doing things like stronger border enforcement on the southern border which many republicans really want to have and they can't fund it. it also demoralizes the department if the crs are very short. so hopefully that won't happen again. what we need is everyone

bringing his or her a-game to mall security and u.s. security. >> is this al shabab threat to go after the mall of america a threat? >> i'm hyper venlt lating. i think we well overreacted to that. they have the aspiration meaning they want to do it. they would have loved to inspire somebody to do it. but they haven't shown any capability. >> they can inspire somebody in minneapolis/st. paul who watches their web sites. they're all pretty sophisticated in social media to go do something. >> that's true. i've been to the mall of america, the largest mall on planet earth or any other planet. it has its own climate. also its own security force and very well prepared as is the department of homeland security against threats. but there's no such thing as mike rodgers, my brother in crime, will tell you there's no such thing as 100% security. some clown can get in somewhere, where we are weaker and attack

us. >> what do you think of these mysterious drones now flying over paris, over the eiffel tower, over the u.s. embassy, the french don't know what's going on. do you? >> no. i don't think the french do either. i think this is the real risk with the explosion of these commercial drones. you saw it at the white house. this is going to change security posture in places like the white house. it's certainly going to change the security posture at high-profile -- >> there's so easily accessible these drones. it comes on the heals of what happened in the attacks in paris. >> i'm very, very worried about this. total erosion of privacy. they can dwell over our backyards, and they can maybe in some future time listen to our conversations in our homes. i think it was a bad move for the faa to allow our air space to be open to unregulated drones. >> you agree? >> i think we're going to have to look at it very seriously. remember, even a drone that gets across on a highway, if it's going five miles an hour and you're going to 50 miles per hour, somebody will end up dead.

>> we remember a few weeks ago a drone landed on the white house. that's worrisome when you think about it. we've got to leave it there. don't go far. coming up roads across the deep south become an icy mess. just as the snow and ice storm moves out, another major storm now taking aim. stand by for the latest forecast. and right at the top of the hour, new details from investigators on the scene of today's fiery commuter train crash just outside los angeles. please, please, please, please, please. [ male announcer ] the wish we wish above all...is health. so we quit selling cigarettes in our cvs pharmacies. expanded minuteclinic for walk-in medical care. and created programs that encourage people to take their medications regularly. introducing cvs health. a new purpose. a new promise... to help all those wishes come true. cvs health. because health is everything.

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carolinas are in the middle of a dangerous storm. it left icy roads across the deep south this morning causing accidents and major slow downs. our meteorologist jennifer gray is at the cnn severe weather center. she's monitoring the latest forecast. what are you seeing jennifer? >> ice and snow across north care carolina. we also had quite a bit of snow in downtown raleigh. this will move out in the next couple of hours but we're setting the stage for another system that is pushing through tomorrow and tomorrow evening. it's going to spread anywhere from east texas all along the i-20 corridor through atlanta and end up in the same areas that we saw just in the past 48 hours. you have to keep in mind where the north gets snow all the time the south doesn't. and so a lot of these cities don't have the proper machinery to clean up 1 to 3 inches of

snow. some areas could see more. as we go forward in time around 9:00 in the morning, dallas is in it again. all the way through shreveport and southern arkansas is included in that. rain for south louisiana and then by wednesday night pushes south of atlanta. it could wrap up by the morning commute on thursday. and then it's going to once again, push off the coast of north carolina by the time we get to thursday evening. snow forecast right here 1 to 2 inches across krars like dallas. isolated amounts even higher. we could see up to 4 to 6 inches of snow across the north georgia mountains and portions of north carolina. even south carolina is getting in on the action. if we zoom in to raleigh, they could get another round of this as well right around norfolk, could get possible 10 to 12 inches. wolf we want to keep in mind we're getting the snow and the

cold temperatures across much of the country. that's not changing any time soon. >> and the ice, the icy roads, you've got to be really really careful, especially parts of the country where they are not used to driving in those kinds of conditions. jennifer thanks very much. coming up a commuter train slams into a truck raising a massive fireball and leaving dozens hurt. we'll have the latest on what went wrong. and chilling new reports that isis has kidnapped dozens of christians. police now believe that three missing schoolgirls may have made their way into syria. supposedly they are trying to join up with isis.

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happening now, commuter crash. the feds are investigating a new train disaster. it's the third wreck of the rails in the last several weeks. some fiery and some deadly. is it safe to take the train? plus joining isis? police now think three missing schoolgirls have arrived on the terrorists' home turf as dozens of women and children are kidnapped by isis fighters. the justice department wraps up its investigation of george zimmerman, closing its book on the sensational and racially charged case. has justice been served. and broken trust. the veteran secretary is caught on record exaggerating his record. is an apology enough? we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room."

at this hour federal investigators are expected to arrive at the scene of a train crash site. at least 28 people were injured in the fiery early morning accident. we're now learning more about why a truck was stopped on the tracks when the train came barrelling along and hit it. also breaking isis fighters may now have their clutches on three missing teenagers who ran away from their homes in britain apparently hoping to join the terror group. police believe the girls have now made it to their destination in syria. and a key member of the senate foreign relations and intelligence committees senator james rich is standing by along with our correspondents and analysts we're all covering the news that is breaking right now. first, let's go to our national correspondent kyung lah. she's near the crash of the train in oxnard california. kyung, what is the latest? >> reporter: well wolf while

we're waiting for the federal investigators to arrive there is one of the train cars that appears to be the lead train car being lifted by cranes. the others are still on their sides. a total of five rail cars that the crews here are furiously trying to clear off the tracks. investigators are trying to figure out how a driver could take a wrong turn on these tracks. >> we're all glad to be alive. >> reporter: a commuter train flew off the tracks near oxnard just outside of los angeles. 49 people were on board and 28 were injured. many victims were wrapped in bleang kets before being taken to the hospital. five cars derailed three of which rest on their side.

tt metro train hit a produce truck. two pieces flung about 100 feet apart. questions remain mainly why was this truck on the tracks? the driver is being o. he told investigators that he had mistakenly turned on to the tracks believing he was turning onto a highway. he drove about 50 yards before getting stuck. when he saw the train coming he left the truck and called 911. he's being checked at a hospital and is not in police custody. an official says the incident is still under investigation. >> the driver of the vehicle is not under arrest. however, i can say that we are looking into this as far as any potential acts that may have taken place that would require a criminal investigation. >> reporter: a metro link spokesman says the train's car did not collapse because of what keeps the train car from crumb

pelg probably saving lives, he said. the trains are also equipped with windows that easily be removed to rescue the passengers. >> we certainly want to find out everything that we can about this event. were the crossing arms signal? did they operate as intended? we intend to find that out. >> reporter: and what they want to do is really sit down with this driver. we are told that he is cooperating with investigators. he was found about one to two miles away from this site. he was wandering, he was won fused, but he's cooperating with the police. >> according to federal records, our aviation correspondent rene marsh is here in "the situation room." there's a lot of concern about

train safety not only there but across the country right now. >> absolutely. today's derailment is just the latest in a string of high-profile disasters on the tracks. tonight, we take a deep dive into railroad safety across the nation. is it safe enough? some say no. at the start of rush hour this ventura line commuter train slams into a truck on the tracks. it's reminiscent of the fatal metro north crash earlier this month. the train rammed an suv sitting on the tracks. and last week a massive fireball erupted on the tracks in west virginia after an oil tanker train derailed. federal statistics show in 2014 more than 10,000 incidents happened on railroad tracks in the u.s. 239 people were killed at railroad crossings. larry mann is the author of the federal railroad safety act. he says that number is too high.

>> too many people are being injured and killed at crossings this year. looking just at the deaths it's more than four per week. in my judgment many are preventible and it's inexcusable. >> reporter: this crash test shows special technology on board can save lives, a system called crash energy management that's installed on the train on the bottom compare the difference at impact. metro link in california was one of the first rail systems in the nation to get the system on the rails. that likely saved many lives today. >> metro link invested largely in technology in our passengers cars that would allow when a collision occurs that the energy from that impact would go out wards as opposed to inwards to hopefully prevent any crumb

crumpling of the cars. >> reporter: gps technology monitors trains and the system can automatically stop the train, preventing collision or derailment. the technology is not yet wildly used. the technology is out there but it's not being used because it comes down to the bottom line? >> yes. >> reporter: and that's sad because that could mean the dichbs between life and death. >> of course. it is the difference between life and death and we have seen it. >> reporter: all right. so there is technology as you just saw there, to address these various safety issues on the tracks. and in many cases, money is what is getting in the way of widespread implementation. who is to blame? the safety advocate that i spoke to in that piece there blames congress for not providing enough funding to make this happen a lot faster also blaming the railroad industry itself for not investing in these safety measures. >> rene thanks very much. we'll stay on top of the story.

let's go to the war against isis. there's a new report that isis militants have kidnapped as many as 100 christians including women and children. this amid growing fears that three missing schoolgirls could be joining up with the terror group in syria right now. our justice correspondent pamela brown is looking into all of these angles for us. pamela what do you know? >> after a frantic to prevent these girls from joining isis, there is new evidence that has surfaced showing that their worst fears have come true. tonight, london police have reason to believe these three british teenage classmates are now in the isis safe haven of syria after they flew from london to turkey last week. >> the fact is that border is porous. the turks are not 100% to closing it. they are still at war with the syrian regime. so getting across three girls

wouldn't be that difficult. >> reporter: london police won't say exactly how they know the girls 15 and 16 years old are no longer in turkey. but the turkish deputy prim minister is putting the blame on british officials. >> translator: this is a reprehensible condemnable act for britain. >> reporter: british authorities say they contacted the turkish embassy in london a day after they boarded the flight. they had been persuading the teens to come home. one of the girls' fathers made a plea on cnn. >> remember how we love you and your sister and brother, they cannot stop crying. >> reporter: the girls now believed to be among a growing number of teens around the world joining isis. this as we learn the barbaric terrorist group abducted dozens

of christians from a syrian village. this picture shows displaced families fleeing the village after it was attacked. according to a human rights group, isis kidnapped mostly women, elderly and children. >> i think the purpose of all of these acts killing minorities whether they are christians or jews or whatever or westerners working there it's a sort of ethnic cleansing and they figure if they can kill and terrify enough people that will solidify the roots of the islamic state. i don't think it will but that's what they think. >> now isis is apparently to kill these hostages if they get attacked by the coalition, kurds or regime. certainly a dire and disturbing situation there. wolf? >> pam, thanks very much. we're also learning new details about a preparation for a major upcoming battle to liberate the iraqi city of

mosul. barbara starr, what are you learning? >> wolf all important, number one, is will the iraq forces stand up and fight this time as many of them did not last year when isis rolled through northern iraq. what we now know is that the u.s. has been shipping a good amount of weaponry to the iraqi forces. let's look at what has been going on there since the first of the year. we know that 10,000 m-16 rifles have been shipped as well as 10,000 optical scopes. these are pieces of technology that go on the rifles to improve the targeting, especially in tur urban areas. there are 200 additional mrap mine resistant vehicles. now, all of this was preplanned

but certainly convenient that it's going now for it to be ready for the attack on mosul. but -- and it's a big but -- an alternative scenario i have to tell you, wolf is emerging. defense secretary ash carter is making it clear he's not quite ready yet to endorse that april/may time frame that the pentagon talked about last week. he wants to know officials tell us that the iraqi forces are really ready. the worst-case scenario would be sending them into mosul, that they couldn't get the city back and one official says that would be very bad. but also up for discussion is would mosul really be the first target? there are some in the military suggesting that maybe the iraqi forces should go to anbar province west of baghdad, go back out into western iraq. it's less heavily populated. it might be easier for them to make that their first effort. but already these weapons are being shipped, trying to get the

iraqis trained equipped and ready to go. wolf. joining me now is a leading member of both the foreign relations and intelligence committee. thanks very much for joining us. what do you make of this u.s. supply of these weapons to the iraqi military right now given the iraqi military's horrible track record? >> a lot of us have really severe severe reservations about it. i think the iraqis are going to have to prove themselves. last year when isis moved in, they just dropped the weapons and ran. >> these rifles and mraps could end up in the hands of isis like a lot of other u.s. military hardware when the iraqis ran away from themosul. >> the people and iraqis are

going to be facing that when and if the battle of mosul starts. the last battle was, of course the u.s. military and we lost a lot of lives, shed a lot of lives in mosul. it's good the iraqis are at least committed now to stand up and trying to take mosul back. this has got to be stopped. after all, isis' stated objective is to establish this caliphate. once it is established and somewhat stabilized they are going to turn their attention to the western world. >> yeah all of us hope the iraqi military shows up and doesn't become mia like last time. here is what is irritating to me as a united states taxpayer. i wonder if it's irritating to you. the u.s. has given all of this hardware to the iraqis right now. iraq is a major opec member. why are they not reimbursing the u.s. taxpayers? >> they need to also reimburse

us for the other stuff. >> hundreds of billions of dollars. forget about that. i don't understand at a time when we have our own budget issues here the united states i'm sure you and your constituents could use that -- those dollars in your state. why don't we at least even ask them to reimburse the united states? >> definitely should be done. we're spending our kids and grandkids' money there and it should be done but the administration is convinced that they need this so badly to have the iraqis stand up that they are willing to do this. i have major reservations. bring in the kurds. they know how to do this. >> i spoke to adam kinzinger in the last hour and he thought the u.s. was sort of in competition with the iranians and the iranians are providing a lot of weapons to the shiite militias in iraq. that sounds awful to me.

>> well it does. but when you're in the position as the fledgling iraqi military was, they will take it from whoever is willing to help. >> senator, we have a lot more to talk about, including the abduction of nearly 100 christians in syria by isis. stay with us. much more when we come back. would you be willing to give up sharing your moments? sacrifice streaming all night long? is it okay to drop a connection, when you need it most? if you're not on the largest, most reliable network, what are you giving up? verizon. meet the world's newest energy superpower.

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we're back with senator james risch talking about isis the terror group who has unleashed new air strikes.

we're talking about qatar right now. are they are a friendly -- i mean are they a reliable ally? the u.s. has one military base there, about 8 or 9,000 american troops but there's still deep suspicion that elements in qatar are supporting some of these terror groups. >> al jazeera is headquartered in qatar. we have a common interest with qatar. there are other things we don't have a common interest in. as with many kourntscountries in the world, even our best allies having said all that certainly qatar has been helpful to us in many regards. >> we have 8 or 9,000 there, the ground troops it's been helpful on that but the suspicion that they are supporting the muslim brotherhood and other terror groups out there as well.

>> when you say they -- >> not necessarily the amir but the government. >> very rich people. >> that's exactly right. that's one of the problems. there are some people that are very rich there who are clearly sympathetic with elements that are radical. >> should the government be doing more there to stop that from happening? >> they have their own internal political issues as to how that works. certainly we would want them to do more than what they are doing. >> what's going on with this abduction of more than 100 christians now in syria by isis? these aren't just christian men. they are women and children as well. what's their game plan here? >> well i think what you have to do is back up and look at this and look at what is their objective? what is their bottom line? >> isis. >> their objective is to establish a caliphate and a caliphate, of course is a parcel of ground which they control in which they use sharia law, people who are radical

islamic followers. that means you exclude everyone else. >> so they want to convince these christians to abandon their homes and become refugees and escape or do they want to kill them? >> whichever. i don't think they particularly care which way they go as long as these people are gone from their caliphate that they are attempting to establish. and this is certainly a brand of terrorism where you do what they've done, it makes people think that they should move. and i would think that is probably pretty effective if you're a christian living in that area. >> christians have been living there for hundreds and thousands of years and a lot of them are now being aboutingcoming refugees. >> a long with a lot of other syrian people. >> there was a statement issued today. "militants in afghanistan plan

to conduct multiple imminent attacks against targets in kabul, afghanistan." what's going on here? >> well, first of all, this kind of information is common to come in the hands of the intelligence community. generally they don't act on it unless they can confirm it in ways i really can't talk about here. but if they -- if it rises to the level where they think that there is it a serious consideration and people ought to think about it they will issue this kind of a statement. so they obviously have taken the steps to do the confirmations that are necessary and feel that it rises to that level. >> all right. i want to get your quick thought on funding for the department of homeland security. it looks like a clean bill it's called without any connection to immigration reform or anything is going to come up for

a vote. mitch mcconnell is ready to do it. i assume you'll support him on that? >> well it will depend on some of the details on it but i very well might. the texas judge that has ruled that the president can't do what he's trying to do has really taken the argument out of this thing. and so there's no doubt we will pass a bill for homeland security. it should be done after all of us were elected to govern not to not govern. we want to see a smaller federal government but when it comes to homeland security all of us are very very concerned about the security of america. >> you don't want to play around with homeland security. >> that's not a good thing to do. >> no. senator, thanks very much. >> thank you. just ahead, more on the u.s. weapons heading to fighters along the front lines to fight against isis. but will it end up in the hands

of terrorists. and we're going to talk about the new findings and rulings from the u.s. justice department in the case of george zimmerman. stand by. shopping online is as easy as it gets. wouldn't it be great if hiring plumbers, carpenters and even piano tuners were just as simple? thanks to angie's list now it is. start shopping online from a list of top-rated providers. visit angieslist.com today. the real question that needs to be asked is "what is it that we can do that is impactful?" what the cloud enables is computing to empower cancer researchers. it used to take two weeks to sequence and analyze a genome; with the microsoft cloud we can analyze 100 per day. whatever i can do to help compute a cure for cancer, that's what i'd like to do.

we're back with one of the breaking stories. the u.s. military has spent another $17 million sending more weapons to the iraqi government

since the beginning of this year. that will be available to help liberate the iraqi city of mosul. let's talk about this and more. joining us our cnn military analyst, retired general mark hertling and philip mudd and intelligence security analyst bob baer and law enforcement analyst tom fuentes. here's the concern that a lot of people have general hertling a lot of the weapons ending up in the hands of the iraqi military. their track record is not very good. they may end up going into battle and then once they face a rough battle drop the weapons and run away and then isis ends up with the u.s. military equipment. how concerned should we be about that? >> i'm not concerned about it at all, wolf. i know what happened last summer. it's a cause that we repeated over and over again. it had not only to do with the leadership but the training of the iraqi force. these guys will fight. i fought with them in mosul.

and if given the right leadership which they seem to have now, they will take the fight to the enemy, not only in mosul but in other places. so this is the front effort against the war against isis. we have to help them and when you talk about the numbers that barbara cited before, 10,000 weapons, 10,000 scopes 23,000 magazines, that outfits less than two brigades worth of soldiers and they are trying to generate a force of the national guard and army to take the north and anbar province, wolf. >> she's reported an additional 250 mrap and missiles in addition to the ones shipped last year. here's the question for you, philip mudd. they've got money in iraq. it's an opec country. why should american taxpayers be

paying for this equipment that is sent there? >> because they are spending their forces and their forces and we are not. look we're talking about $17 million, wolf. that's a chump change check. i'll go down in downtown miami and buy a beer. the portion is less than $17 million. secondly general hertling says he's not all concerned. i'm less concerned than he is. let's go through our options here. we've decided that isis is a problem. we can, a, do nothing and, b, provide military support that might go to some of the isis adversaries. we can see sending u.s. forces. when you get out of fantasy and get into reality, the choice is not that difficult. the chump change give them the 17 million bucks, it's not that hard. >> i hope you both are right. i'm concerned given the awful track record of the iraqi

military. the state department warning there's an attack that looks like it's imminent, could be at the u.s. embassy in kabul or wherever. they just issued a strong statement. what's going on over there? >> well wolf the country is still fragmented. the taliban is not a unified force but they can hit kabul. this is why the president at this point is saying we're going to be staying there longer. we've got special forces operating there, we're sending weapons there, we are not done with afghanistan. that is an open wound, which is -- you know it could get a lot worse. and if they say there are going to be attacks in kabul, it wouldn't surprise me. >> it looks like an ominous warning that the state department just issued. you saw the file footage that we have of the drones flying across paris near the eifell tower.

there's deep concern that this is it terror related as with the attack on the magazine a month ago, the attack on the kosher supermarket. these drones flying over paris could be worrisome. >> they could be worrisome everywhere whether it's washington, d.c. or the capital or somewhere else because someone would put explosives on them and have a dangerous attack by way of drone. now we see where they are using some kind of a net system that they will throw over the top of the drone but i'd be skeptical about that because in order to guide that in the net would be hanging and get caught up in power lines. i don't know how effective that would be. obviously jamming the radio signals is probably the best thing but you thought i was joking at the time of the super bowl when i said it might take 1,000 guys with butterfly nets. now we're seeing them. >> it's a worrisome development. general hertling what do you think is going on first of all, and how worried should people be in paris right now?

>> certainly, wolf across europe they are much more concerned than they were before the attack. i think you are seeing after-effects of that. there's more intelligence sharing, more concern about small things that might happen. i mean we saw the drone on the white house lawn as you said a little while ago, and it was just a radio shack device. these things are everywhere. people should be concerned but we shouldn't overblow these things. certainly a flight over the u.s. embassy is not a good thing but it's something that is being addressed much more diligently than in the past. >> bob, what is your analysis? why are these terrorists rounding up christians right now, men, women and children and abducting them in syria? >> well wolf this is islamic fascism. they want to get rid of the yazidis and christians are part

of this and if they execute these people they would hope that christians would flee syria and iraq. we've talked about it. it's a very old religion. and as crazy as this is this is their intention. and it's clear, just as they killed the cops in libya. it's an attack on christianity. >> the cop christians in libya, 21 of them were beheaded which resulted in egyptian air strikes. a quick final thought from you, philip mudd. >> notice they don't just call them christians they call them crusaders. they want to portray themselves as defenders of islam and iraq et cetera. all of these people christians jews crusaders, et cetera are here to attack us. we are your crusaders, stand behind us. we're following more breaking news as well. the train crash near los angeles. the driver of the truck involved is now telling investigators how

that truck wound up on the tracks. also coming up a new twist in the trayvon martin case as the u.s. justice department makes a controversial decision about george zimmerman. [ hoof beats ] i wish... please, please, please, please, please. [ male announcer ] the wish we wish above all...is health. so we quit selling cigarettes in our cvs pharmacies. expanded minuteclinic for walk-in medical care. and created programs that encourage people to take their medications regularly. introducing cvs health. a new purpose. a new promise... to help all those wishes come true. cvs health. because health is everything. meet the world's newest energy superpower. surprised? in fact, america is now the world's number one natural gas producer... and we could soon become number one in oil. because hydraulic fracturing technology is safely recovering lots more oil and natural gas. supporting millions of new jobs. billions in tax revenue...

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death of the unarmed african-american teenager trayvon martin. let's get some more with our justice reporter evan perez. he first broke the story for us. tom fuentes is joining us. tell us what happened here. >> well wolf the fbi started looking at this immediately after the shooting. that's something that we didn't know how much of this they had actually done. and then they stopped when the state of florida decided to prosecute george zimmerman and began again after he was acquitted in 2013. so they've had this case for three years. they interviewed 75 witnesses and reviewed everything that the state presented and in the end they couldn't get enough evidence to find that he knew he was breaking the law, that he -- beyond a reasonable doubt is what the standard here is that he knew he was breaking the law and he intended to violate the civil rights of trayvon martin. >> the trayvon martin family issued a statement.

they were disappointed although grateful that the justice department went through this process but it is a very high bar the justice department has to cross over in order to file civil rights charges after an acquittal in the case. >> that's true wolf. you had the local police and the local prosecutor conduct the first investigation and not feel it was a strong enough case to prosecute. so then the state bring in a special prosecutor with a political mandate prosecute and they do and he's acquitted. he's not found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. then you have the third look by the justice department and they just felt there wasn't enough there to commit a hate crime. i think the problem politically is this has gotten lumped in with garner and michael brown. >> and darren wilson. >> not some untrained alleged idiot carrying a gun who when he called the police the police said don't follow him. he does it anyway. they get into this altercation and ultimately trayvon martin is

shot and killed. but he wasn't killed by a police officer. this is just again, an alleged idiot with a gun. >> and the justice department decided apparently that they are not filing civil rights charges against darren wilson. what about in the eric garner case the nypd police officer daniel pantileo? >> exactly. wolf we always talk about the high bar these cases have. well this case actually might end up being a bit of a surprise to everyone. >> in new york? >> in new york. simply because what i'm told the fbi is looking at this very seriously, not that they don't always do it but in this case they are looking at all of the video evidence that they have and what they are honing in on is whether or not the video of the evidence that they have indicates whether this officer's life was in danger whether he had a reasonable -- it was reasonable for him to act the way he did. and so that's the question that

this is going to turn on. not saying that they are going to bring a prosecution. this one is not nearly as clean cut as some of the others. >> there's that one and the videotape where eric garner keeps saying i can't breathe, i can't breathe, i can't breathe. >> right. and they are also going to have to talk to the other witnesses. there's gaps in the other videos that we saw that were being taken at that time. an officer confronted garner on the sidewalk and then suddenly half a dozen officers at the scene. that takes time and that part we haven't seen either what was going on. >> guys thank you very much. good work. coming up more breaking news. federal investigators are at the site of the fiery california train derailment. also the veterans affairs secretary is talking to cnn about why he said he was with the special forces when he wasn't. sfx: opening chimes sfx: ambient park noise, crane engine, music begins. we asked people a question how much money do you have

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u.s. veterans affairs secretary is apologizing for what he call a misstatement about his own military service. he said he served in the special force, but that's not true. our national correspondent is joining us with details. what's the latest? >> he was a west point graduate. he finished in the top 2% of his class. he was brought on as the new va chief for his business savvy as the former head of procter & gamble than for his five years of military experience. i asked why would he represent his military record. >> the embattled secretary affairs veteran admits he made a

mistake. >> i incorrectly stated that i too had been in special forces. that was wrong, and i have no excuse. >> he was caught on camera exaggerating about serving in the special forces during a cbs news taping of a story. a homeless veteran said he served in the special forces and mcdonald replied special forces, what year? i have in special forces. >> he completed army ranger but was never assigned. he was assigned to and served in the 82nd airborne division until his retirement in 1980. >> what i was trying to find way to connect with that veteran. as i said i made a misstatement. i apologized for that.

>> veterans groups are disappointed. the american legion said he has a long way to go to repair the damage and rebuild trust. >> the secretary has made an apology. the apology, i don't think restores the american legion's complete trust in him or perhaps veterans that are being served. >> others are using the trouble to pile on more criticism. >> sometimes i don't understand why people would want to do that. i'm much more concerned about his failure to implement the legislation that we passed. >> for now the white house seemed to be committed to mmc mcdonald. >> there's no reason to think it should interfere with his ability to continue to lead the fight for veterans. >> president obama chose him.

mcdonald's apology, this is his third since the story broke. i heard from a number of veterans organizations including the paralyzed veterans of america who all say they accept his explanation and they are ready to move on be p. >> thanks very much. the assumption out there is it's over with for him. he apologized. he was pretty forthright and pretty quick and he can move on. i don't know if you agree with that. >> the special forces is precise about who claims membership. he was right to apologize and wrong to indplatflate what he did. finishing army ranger training is no slouch either. that's a very demanding, special forces type training.

the fact he did that and served in the 82nd airborne division makes this less than some of the others we dealt with. he should be judged by his success at the department. >> i assume he will move on. the white house supports him. we heard from hillary clinton. he's been serving for the last few weeks. you're listening to a speech she gave women tech executives out in california. >> she reemerged. we hasn't heard from her in sometime in is a will's silicon valley valley event shefts was at. she talked about in addition to economic issues like income ine

call inequality. she talked about equal pay. she's playing on the message to women. she's playing to those folks. she's also in silicon valley. she met with a lot of execs before this conference. >> she was also asked about google and the problems with national security and the questions of spying because google and folks out in silicon valley have some issues with the nsa and the president on that. she was asked about isis. what the president has done wrong. you can see she's going to have a problem figuring out how far she backs off from the president and in what direction she decides to go because she's more muscular on isis. she wanted to arm the syrian rebels. she may be more on nsa spying. she was playing to a silicon valley crowd here. that was a bit more difficult.

>> she was asked twice on isis is the president doing enough? door wide open to distance herself and she ended up giving what was basically a history of iraq and staying away from answering that question. >> she's running, obviously, at least in part as a woman. she would be a historic figure the first woman president of the united states if she were to win. >> for all the talk about the gender gap there's a lot of room for her to grow with women. barack obama won with 48% of the white women. that was the weakest performance for my democrat. democrats have struggled with those working class white women. what we sometimes call the waitress moms. when you look at polling, i've been scouring them for over a year. she's not consistently running bet we are the blue collar women but she's running better with the women like her, college,

educated white women. she's running consistently 6, 7, 8 points better. that matters because they are the fastest growing part of the white electorate. >> they were already voting and already voting democratic. >> not as much as in '08 and '12. >> the last time she ran she had a problem. she ran on her experience and not enough on being a woman. this time i think she's overcorrecting herself or seems to be in danger of that and running too much as being a woman and not enough on her experience. today we heard a lot more about e being of woman than when i was secretary of state, x, y and z. she wanted to attract women. she can't lose white men. big problem, mitt romney won with white men. she has to be able to get those

voters as well. if you only talk about women's issues and you're a woman, it's a problem. >> the difference i think, that some of her advisors might point out is talking more about women's economic issues and not talking about hot button social issues like contraception. >> they're going to pass the department of homeland security, funding a clean bill. it will pass the senate. it will go to the house. they'll pass it. do you agree? >> there's been a lot of lemon like behavior or the last couple of years. this would take the cake. i still can't imagine the republicans will allow that to happen. we've said that before and gone over those cliffs. >> the secretary of homeland security said to me over the weekend, he said, it's absurd to even think that we are having this conversation and i would have to say i agree with him. >> thanks very much.

that's it for me. thanks for watching. you can follow us on twitter. tweet me. you can also tweet the show. join us again tomorrow right here in "the situation room" or dvr the show so you won't miss a moment. erin burnett outfront starts right now. next, fiery train cash. dozens of passengers injured. an eyewitness is outfront. nearly 100 christians abducted by isis. where are they tonight? will will isis spare their lives? let geese outfront. the breaking news investigators at the site of a