does every president wrap themselves in abraham lincoln? because he still matters. >> everyone wants to follow in his footsteps. >> reporter: lincoln's words and ideas and memories still hold and form us and shape us and likely will for the next 150 years as well. that's it for "the lead." i'm jake tapper. turning you over to wolf blitzer in "the situation room." happening now security scare. a pilot penetrates restricted airspace and lands a gyrocopter on the capitol lawn. under siege, isis surrounds a major iraqi city. civilians flee and panic. iraqi troops may not be able to hang on. cnn goes to the front lines of this battle. we'll have an exclusive report.

dashcam controversy, the high-speed ramming of an arizona suspect raising new questions about police tactics and adding to a debate over police cameras. do they help or hurt law enforcement? and airport groping scandal. two tsa officers are out of a job for allegedly subjecting attractive male passengers to sensitive pat-downs. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." breaking news a big security scare leads to chaos at the u.s. capitol. a man is in custody now after penetrating restricted airspace over the heart of washington and landing a mini aircraft known as a gyrocopter on the capitol grounds. this video captured by a bystander shows the landing initially without a security officer in sight. and police rushed to deal with a possible threat. the pilot, a mailman from florida, is now under

investigation. a friend says he planned the flight to send a message about campaign finance reform. but the stunt is raising bigger dwe questions about the security of important sites right here in the nation's capital. it happened as congressional leaders met with the iraqi prime minister inside the capitol. let's begin with the latest. tom foreman as that. >> it is now clear from a video that was collected by "the tampa bay times" that this man planned this for a long time and he let a lot of people know what he was up to that this was no surprise and he didn't want it to be a surprise. he flew through for more than two hours through perhaps what is the most heavily guarded airspace in america. >> i'm not suicidal and i'm not going to commit suicide. and i'm not going to fly into any monuments.

terrorists don't announce their flights before they take off. terrorists don't broadcast their flight path. terrorists don't invite an escort to go along with them. >> reporter: those words from an extensive video from "the tampa bay times" about the suspected 61-year-old pilot well before his flight that ended amid confusion, alarm and drawn guns on the capitol lawn. nora noose saw the single-seat aircraft approach. >> it flew straight toward us on the west face of the capitol building landed on the lawn bounced one and sat sit. the man sat still, sat in his chair and then one cop came down and started trying to figure out what was happening. within about 30 seconds, there were dozens of police cars a large number of men with rifles and snipers running toward the man. >> reporter: noose says nearby security forces seemed unaware of the craft until it touched down and yet hughes in the video

an on his website said he informed a good many others including the president of his specific intentions before he took off more than an hour outside d.c.'s protected airspace. >> i'm going to violate the no-fly zone for nobody to get hurt and i'm going to land on the capitol mall in front of the capitol building. i'm going to have 535 letters strapped to the landing gear in boxes and those letters will be addressed to every member of congress. >> reporter: the final moments were captured in this extraordinary video obtained exclusively by the "associated press." hughes' website says he was prompted to take this dramatic action following the suicide of his son over unrelated matters. the website further says the pilot worked on this attention-grabbing protest for well over two years. and in that time he bought his aircraft learned to fly it and plotted his path toward a daring dive at the capitol.

wolf if it is true that he took off an hour outside of protected airspace that means whichever direction he came from -- and it's still not clear -- he flew for somewhere around two hours through airspace where everything is supposed to be tracked. if that is the case then that raises really serious questions because he's only traveling like 25 miles an hour. he had all this information out there for people to know what was going on. he had been talked to previously by the secret service. there seem to be a lot of ways that people would know about this. and he himself says that he thought for sure that before he got to this area he would be followed by some kind of a helicopter or tracked in some fashion. he feared that maybe he would be shot down before he reached here. as he put it a boy scout with a bb gun could take me out of the sky. and yet, wolf in all of this protected space, he seems not to have encountered even that. >> sounds like a major, major blunder occurred. we'll dig deeper on this. tom foreman, thanks very much.

how did this aircraft manage to penetrate the restricted zone at the center of the nation's capital, especially in these years following 9/11? let's go to our aviation correspondent, rene marsh. this happened in some of the most hypersensitive airspace not only in the united states but in the world. was the faa aware this was going to happen? >> reporter: wolf i can tell you i just got off the phone with the faa and asked that very question. and they will not comment as to whether they knew that this man was planning this flight and planning to do what he did and actually it happened just right over my shoulder. if you see that green space, that is where that gyrocopter landed. but faa mum on whether they knew this was going to happen before it actually did occur, only saying that they're investigating, wolf. >> no u.s. military or local police state aircraft were

scrambled at any point to deal with this, is that right? >> reporter: right. norad saying that -- you're absolutely right on that. there were no military jets scrambled. i spoke with norad about this. and they said that they didn't get notification about this event until the gyrocopter actually landed on the capitol grounds. so there simply was not enough time for them to scramble any jets. so it raises the question as to were they even aware that this gyrocopter was flying in this airspace? we just heard tom foreman talking about, perhaps it was in the air for an hour or two. but we don't know how long at this point if it was in the air. if it was in the air for two hours or so that's truly troubling that it was able to fly and make it all the way here and norad didn't know about it until it landed. that being said we're still waiting for these details.

if it was only in the air for a short period of time there wouldn't have been much response time for them to scramble the jets. that detail is still a bit fuzzy at this time. >> remind us who's in charge of keeping a close eye on this highly sensitive restricted airspace? >> reporter: it's a number of parties. but we know the faa is in charge of the airspace ultimately. but you have a number of parties monitoring it. so you have the secret service. you have members from dhs. you have members from capitol hill police as well as the faa. they all have radars. they're all monitoring this 24/7, around the clock, in real time. and when someone sees something that is peculiar they get on this conference call so to speak, and they alert each other that something isn't quite right. and everyone then zeros in on that aircraft if it is in this restricted airspace. so that's usually how it works. once they access the threat they make the determination, are

they going to scramble jets or not? and it really depends on the kind of aircraft it is. this aircraft for example, they wouldn't have scrambled military jets because there's no way a military jet could slow down to the speed of this aircraft. so most likely they would have called on the coast guard to scramble their chopper. we know that didn't happen. but that's the chain of md xha. that's how it works. many eyes focusing in on this restricted airspace because it's so hypersensitive. you have the capitol and the same goes for the white house. >> and the fear or concern is what if on that aircraft there weren't just letters in that box, if there were explosives or some osort of bomb that could have been a disaster. clearly that's the great concern and a lot of people are investigating what exactly happened. rene, thanks very much. the security breach how does the u.s. capitol grounds that took place while the iraqi prime minister haider al abadi was inside. the building was briefly on lockdown and nearby streets were

briefly closed off. athena jones was up on capitol hill as this unfolded. what's the latest there? >> reporter: i can tell you it was a dramatic scene and confusing. it was several moments before it was clear that this was not going to be a threat. for a while, it wasn't clear what was going on. i was standing outside of the senate foreign relations committee room where the iraqi prime minister, haider al abadi, was in the room meeting with senators on that committee. so of course a leader like him is going to be surrounded by security at all times. there were a lot of officers standing outside that room uniformed officers as well. suddenly you began to hear the familiar distinctive crackling of the police radio. and it was clear something was happening. then all of a sudden, at least half a dozen of these uniformed officers rushed by us heading towards what we now know as outside. we asked what was happening. and we were told a helicopter had landed on the west front of the capitol. as you know it ended up being this smaller aircraft this

gyrocopter. but at that moment no one seemed to know why the person landed there, what was going on whether it was a threat. while they did not evacuate the capitol building there was a brief lockdown. and we heard the police discussing how to get the iraqi prime minister out of the build figure they needed to evacuate him. they talked about, of course bringing him out the other side of the building the east side that faces the supreme court building. of course, that wasn't necessary in the end. this man was brought into custody for questioning. we are told that investigation is still going on. we know the bomb squad checked out that gyrocopter. but it was really a bizarre several minutes here at the capitol. and it's quite a way to send a message to congress. >> certainly is. thanks very much, athena, for that report. the pilot had notified "the tampa bay times" ahead of this stunt. reporter ben montgomery interviewed the pilot and tracked his flight. ben is joining us now on the phone. ben, if capitol police reached

out to you since all this occurred? >> no not the capitol police but secret service have contacted "the times" and asked to speak with me. >> and what is their concern? have you notified them in advance that this was about to happen? >> no but they knew about it at least a year ago. they approached and questions doug hughes. he had a political spat with a family member who sent the secret service a letter that outlined his plan and then showed up at his house according to him at 1:00 a.m., questioning him for about 45 minutes. came back to his work at the post office two days later, questioned him and a colleague with whom he had shared his plans and doug said they both seemed satisfied and they never contacted -- >> i read your lengthy article in quat the tampa bay times," saw the video you guys posted. you've known about this planned flight for some time, right? >> yes, sir.

he first contacted me last summer by telephone and said look, i'm a nonviolent person. i'm going to commit an act of civil disobedience to try to bring attention to campaign finance reform. and in the event i get hurt or arrested i need somebody to tell my backstory. we had a cup of coffee, he explained his plan. and we've been in touch since then every few months. >> i assume you were concerned once he learned that he was taking off today and heading towards the u.s. capitol that he could be shot down and killed, right? >> oh, yeah. certainly could have happened. he was well aware of that. and and he just kind of decided a long time ago that he was willing to take that risk. he expected some kind of confrontation. he spent 2 1/2 years playing out every possible scenario. so he was well aware that somebody might try to bring him down.

but he flew into this thing practically defenseless for the purpose of being transparent, to show anybody who might confront him and try to bring him down that there's no room on this thing for any kind of explosives there's no room for any guns or anything of that nature it's basically a flying lawn mower that wayeighs about 250 pounds. he could have been brought down with by a boy scout with a bb gun. >> he landed at 1:30 p.m. eastern time on the capitol grounds. you posted the article, the video at around noon, right? >> yeah that's when he took off. we saw wheels up. he was live-streaming the whole thing on his website. so we saw wheels up. he called me just before he went up. i couldn't understand anything he was saying because his propeller was so loud. so we immediately posted our story and one of my colleagues back in st. petersburg called the secret service and the capitol police to ask them if

they knew this guy was flying toward the capitol. that would have been at least 45 minutes before he came into d.c. proper. >> what did the secret service say to your newspaper? >> they had no knowledge of it. >> did they say they were going to take action? did they want to know the direction he was coming from? i take it he took off from some airport in virginia in suburban washington. >> he actually took off from an airport in the vicinity of gettysburg. i don't know where, but somewhere in that area. it was a little over an hour flight time. >> i guess the final question is did you feel you had a responsibility to really start screaming at law enforcement, secret service and others and say, you know what this is a dangerous situation, we're aware of what's going on but we need you to stop this before someone gets hurt? did you feel you had a journalistic or a public responsibility to do something like that? >> i spent a lot of time with doug hughes over the past year.

and he has designed this entire plan to prevent himself or anyone else from getting hurt. from the live broadcasts to the delayed e-mail alert to authorities to the openness and transparency with which he put his plan together and invited us to pay attention, this was not a guy who had a death wish. terrorists don't announce their flight plans ahead of time and don't alert authorities ahead of time. we were ultimately comfortable that he was on the secret service radar, they at least interviewed him. and we felt like it wasn't our journalistic job to pull the plug on his plan or to warn anybody in advance because he never seemed like he was doing anything besides trying to bring attention to campaign finance reform. and that's what he didn't want to get lost in this entire thing. he didn't want it to be about him. he wanted it to be about his issue, which was that there's unlimited amounts of money can be contributed to political candidates and corporations and

unions. and he feels like that's unfair and that's at the root of the crumbling of the democracy. >> i knew he had a mission. and that was his mission. fortunately he's okay. i have to tell you, someone who's lived in this area for a long time especially in the years since 9/11 he's a very very lucky guy that he wasn't shot down and killed as he approached the u.s. capitol. thanks very much for that, ben montgomery. reporter for "the tampa bay times." they've done extensive reporting on all of this. coming up we'll have that extraordinary video that the newspaper posted. you'll see and hear it. the pilot telling us in his own words how and why he planned this flight to the u.s. capitol. other stories we're following, isis has a major iraqi city virtually surrounded and a local official says the city is on the verge of collapse. cnn goes to the front lines. we'll have an exclusive report for you.

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we have more on this hour's breaking news. the security scare caused by a florida mailman landing his gyrocopter on the front of the u.s. capitol. he was promptly arrested. we're going to be getting in the video of the police leading him away. there you see it right there in fact. but his stunt is raising serious questions about security right here in the heart of the nation's capital. before he flew to washington doug hughes made a video explaining what he was about to do and why. it's been posted by "the tampa bay times" newspaper which actually helped produce this

very very slick video. we're going to play it for you now in its entirety. >> i'm doug hughes. i'm 61 years old. and i'm a mailman working out of riverview, florida. no sane person would do what i'm doing. i have carefully planned it so that nobody will get hurt, including me, especially me. i'm not suicidal. and i'm not going to commit suicide. and i'm not going to fly into any monuments. terrorists don't announce their flights before they take off. terrorists don't broadcast their flight path. terrorists don't invite an escort to go along with them.

to violate the no-fly zone nonviolently and for nobody to get hurt. and i'm going to land on the capitol mall in front of the capitol building. i'm going to have 535 letters strapped to the landing gear in boxes. and those letters are going to be addressed to every member of congress. i'm delivering the message right to them not for their sake but for the impact that it will have

because i'm trying to galvanize millions of people to do a relatively simple thing. change the government to build a wall of separation between the government and big money so that government will represent the people. there are these problems and these problems and these problems that are much more important than campaign finance reform. but those won't get addressed until we fix campaign finance reform. i don't believe that the authorities are going to shoot down a 60-year-old mailman in a flying bicycle. i'm going to give them plenty of warning, well over an hour in advance of me getting to the no-fly zone that they know who i am and what i'm doing and that it's intended to be nonviolent. i'm defenseless. they could knock me down. a boy scout with a bb gun could shoot me down.

but i don't believe that anybody wants to personally take responsibility for the fallout that would result from publicly executing somebody for an act of dissent. i have thought about walking away from this whole thing because it's crazy. and i have thought about being 75 years old and watching the collapse of this country and thinking that i had an idea that might have arrested the fall and i didn't do it. and i will tell you completely honestly i'd rather die in the flight than live to be 80 years old and see this country fall. >> that's the whole video posted on "the tampa bay times" website. let's bring in tom fuentes and our cnn justice reporter evan

perez. your reaction to this video, first of all, tom? >> i think it's incredible. i think that all that notice with the newspaper in tampa, driving all the way up to the d.c. area flying an hour or two, going right into the capitol with that that could have been a large helicopter with a squad of isis members land on the capitol like in some of the stupid movies -- we thought they were stupid movies -- maybe not so that showed washington under attack the white house under siege. and it might be right. might be time for homeland security to hire a troupe of boy scouts with bb guns. >> it is shocking to think about it in the aftermath of 9/11 to have an incident like this occur. if that guy wouldn't have had letters in that box that he had on the back of that gyrocopter if he would have had a bomb, that could have been a disaster. >> wolf all day today has been a mixture of amusement and concern, frankly, about this incident. on one hand you're talking about a flying bicycle outfitted

with a lawn mower engine. but on the other hand as you pointed out, this could have been a lot more serious. this gyrocopter flew over the lincoln memorial according to officials i've been talking to today. so there's plenty of room for him to have gone wrong. he could have flown into the white house. he went right past it. and flew over thousands and thousands of tourists who were out there on the washington mall today. so, yeah, it is a very serious thing. the issue is this if he was flying a russian helicopter or something bigger no doubt that that would have been met by the full force of the u.s. defenses in the capitol region. this is a small aircraft. we saw recently there was a drone that was detected over the -- near the washington national airport and the fbi scrambled helicopters to try to meet it. so it's clear that something has to be done to try to make sure something like this doesn't happen. >> a drone landed on the grounds

of the white house a few weeks ago -- >> i'm not sure there's any indication that any aircraft of any size would be stopped if it went to the capitol or the white house or -- what plans are there, what aircraft would be deployed how would it deal with the enemy aircraft in the air? we've seen no indication that they're prepared to do anything of the kind. >> in this particular case "the tampa bay times," we spoke with the reporter a few moments ago, the actual gyrocopter landed outside the u.s. capitol -- on the u.s. capitol grounds around 1:30. but at noon they posted this was all going down and at 1:00 half an hour before it landed they called the secret service and wanted to get reaction from them. in effect they were alerting the secret service to what was going on. we don't know if they scrambled or did anything. >> and the reaction on the ground it's clear no one was expecting this. >> when you watch that video, it takes a minute or two for the squads to even find -- it's like it lands there, the rotor is spinning and -- >> nobody is there.

>> if he took off from gettysburg in pennsylvania he was in the air for two hours with this little contraption just slowly methodically making its way to washington, getting to restricted airspace the most restricted airspace arguably tom, correct me if i'm wrong, in the united states. >> that's true. we know a couple of months ago that when isis threatened to attack federal buildings and kill government workers, the department of homeland security announced they were going to deploy thousands of additional security officers all over the country. and we questioned them, you don't need them all over the country, all over the heartland unless you're already well-protected here. clearly we're not. >> we saw the video of this little aircraft landing outside the u.s. capitol. we didn't see any security personnel and the secret service, no helicopters in the sky. we basically saw some tourists watching what was going on. >> right, what this exposes is at the center of washington is where we're most vulnerable

because there's really not much you can do to shoot down a very small aircraft like that. there's nothing -- this guy went past the white house, down the national mall. plenty of places where you could have had an open shot i guess if you wanted to have one. and there wasn't any. >> but if they would have seen this guy flying towards the capitol, they obviously had no communications with him, what would be the standarding operating procedure? would there be rules of engagement as he got closer and closer to the capitol dome would there have been an alert that went out, shoot the plane down? >> i don't see any evidence -- >> is that standard operating -- >> i don't think it is standard. >> in a situation like this if they see a mysterious little helicopter or gyrocopter heading towards the u.s. capitol grounds, they don't know what's inside or who's inside. >> i don't think they have rules of engagement. we've seen no indication of what plan they would have had in place. could have easily been like 9/11 where by the time our military

jets arrive they're looking at the smoke. >> fortunately he's okay and fortunately there was no damage no terrorism. but they'll have to step back all of the authorities, local ones capitol hill district of columbia the states nearby maryland virginia pennsylvania they'll have to take a close look at this and learn lessons from this. >> undoubtedly. >> you and i know the bad guys are watching what just happened and they'll learn some les frns this as well. a lot more on this coming up. coming up an exclusive report we're following, civilians flee in panic as isis surrounds a major city. can iraqi troops hold on?

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while iraq's prime minister is here in washington appealing for more u.s. weapons, more money, back home isis is tightening the noose around another major iraqi city. 70 miles from baghdad, there's a bloody battle under way right now in ramadi. in a cnn exclusive, a local official says the situation is dire and the city may soon fall to the terror group. our senior international correspondent arwa damon is just back from the front lines in anbar province and joins us live from baghdad. what is the latest arwa? what do you know? >> reporter: pretty dire, wolf. the deputy provincial head of the council in ramadi saying that isis has been advancing from three different directions moving steadily towards the city center. in fact he went so far as to say that from his perspective, ramadi had already fallen.

very angry, very frustrated because he says he had been warning the iraqi government asking for additional support in the form of troops more boots on the ground to help the fighters already in the city get ready to try to push isis back. but also because he and others have been requesting for quite some time now additional iraqi air force air strikes and coalition air strikes on isis positions before they were even able to breach the city. entering this morning from the east in something of a surprise attack that sent according to the official, 150,000 people fleeing. we saw some of those individuals that were trying to escape earlier in the day, trying to cross a bridge that you're not allowed to use a vehicle on. so they were on foot absolutely exhausted, wolf shocked, understandably given what they had been through. women, the elderly, children

piled into metal carts being pushed across this bridge. one older woman we spoke to just burst into tears when we asked her about the situation. another man describing how isis fighters walked into his house, didn't say a word and then set up a sniper position on his rooftop, wolf. >> it's a shocking situation, tens of thousands of people now made refugee status and the question is where is the iraqi military? why are they m.i.a. missing in action allowing this to happen to their own people? more on this story coming up. also coming up another story we've been following, the high-speed ramming of an arizona suspect raising serious new questions about police tactics and dash cameras. do they help or hurt? and later, tsa agents fired for an outrageous plot to grope attractive passengers. if you have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis like me and you're talking to your rheumatologist about a biologic...

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release of a shocking dashcam video is leading to an intense debate about the technology. cnn's brian todd is here with us in "the situation room" and has a closer look on what's the latest. >> that's right. that suspect's attorney says that move by the police officer was incredibly reckless and dangerous. but tonight the police chief in arizona is vigorously defending the officer who struck that suspect with his squad car. and other law enforcement experts are telling us he had to

end that situation quickly and this was a good outcome. we have to warn viewers, this video is graphic and may be dis disturbing to come viewers. by every measure, it was violent, risky, close to catastrophic. this police officer rams this suspect, knocking him up in the air. the impact also captured on the officer's dashcam. his police chief says the officer actually saved the suspect's life by doing this. >> the suspect is okay. our officer is okay. and all the citizens are okay. >> reporter: an explanation that's not okay with the suspect's lawyer. >> i find it ludicrous to say that we're saving this man's life who's suicidal by almost killing himt. he could have died. it's miraculous he didn't die. >> reporter: police say in this february incident, valuesencia was carrying a high-powered rifle, that he threatened suicide by

pointing it at himself. he'd fire it in the air. one law enforcement expert says there was another way to handle this. >> i think setting up a secure perimeter and at least making some attempt to negotiate may have been far more efficient. >> reporter: but jim beerman, a former police chief, says there may not have been time for that. >> if he decided to start shooting at the officers, all the officers there were at risk. that bullet will go through the car door and the windshield. there were people on the street. it looked like a residential area. >> reporter: the mistake the officer made beerman says was seemingly not telling his fellow officers he was about to do this. they appeared surprised. it's rekindled a passionate debate about the use of police cameras. some argue they make police more jittery, less apt to go with their instincts, concerned with too much scrutiny. but beerman says cameras have

become critical exposing police who commit abuse or clarify uncertainties. >> there are as many officers that have been exonerated by their dashcam videos showing they did exactly what they were supposed to do and there was no misbehavior on their part as it has helped in evidentiary case, too. >> beerman says dashcams are also powerful teaching tools for officers to review what they did right and wrong in a given incident. and he says they can help police with public messaging to explain why they used force in certain moments and that can help reduce tension between police and their communities. that's something after all these incidents desperately needed right now. >> certainly is. brian, thanks so much. coming up shocking allegations against tsa officers who are supposed to keep all of us safe. two of them have been fired after authorities say they discovered them plotting to grope passengers. we have much more coming up on this hour's breaking news how did a mailman on what he calls a flying bicycle manage to

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we are following shocking allegations against a pair of airport security officers. tsa fired them over a plot to grope passengers. let's go to renee with the details. what happened? >> well wolf this was going on for at least three months. passengers being victimized. after investigators got an anonymous tip, tsa officers were

caught in the act. now, tonight, they are off the job. two tsa officers targeting unsuspecting male passengers at security check point at denver international airport. it's detailed in the police report. a pair a man and woman conspired to find and grope, quote, attractive male passengers. >> how would you rate this violation of policy? is this the worse of the worse? >> it doesn't get much worse than this. they have a scheme against a passenger trying to get to his or her flight. >> here is how it worked. a male officer signals his female co-worker when he saw an attractive male. she put information in a scanner that a female was being screened when it was a man causing the computer to detect an anomaly in the groin area.

after receiving an anonymous tip, tsa investigators witnessed the tsa officer touching the male's genital area and buttocks a clear violation of tsa policy. they are supposed to use the back of their hands. >> it is clear how they conduct a patdown. >> reporter: they said the scheme happened at least ten times. the two officers are no longer with the agency. in a statement, tsa said the alleged acts are sbolerable. >> tsa screeners need to understand this type of behavior is completely unacceptable. >> reporter: according to the d.a.'s office in denver two alleged victims have come forward.

investigators got the tip in november. it wasn't until february they dispatched to the airport to observe operations and caught the agents in the act. the question some people are asking three months why did it take so long for the tsa investigator to get on the scene there. >> good question. thanks very very much. coming up more on the breaking news we are following. chaos at the u.s. capitol. here in washington a security scare as a pilot reaches a no fly zone. itis raising new questions about the vulnerability of the u.s. government buildings. you will hear from the pilot how and why he planned this flight. ost my life. but that hasn't stopped me from modeling. my doctor told me about stelara®. it helps keep my skin clearer. with only 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses... ... stelara® helps me be in season. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and increase your risk of infections.

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happening now, capitol air space invaded. a one man, open aircraft lands on the doorstep of congress. tonight, troubling new questions about security in the u.s. capitol. the pilot survives. he gave advanced warning about the flight and motive acknowledging he would be shot down. stand by to hear him, in his own words. isis advances. the terrorists are close to seizing a city stained with the blood of american troops. governor chris christie tests the presidential waters. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you are in the "situation room."

this is not good, people. >> visitors at the u.s. capitol knew something was dangerously wrong when they saw a small aircraft buzz by them flying through restricted air space in what is supposed to be one of the most protected places in the world. the aircraft known as a gyro copter landed on the lawn. the bomb squads into action. tonight, new information about the stunning security breach and the pilot behind it. he revealed his plans and motive on video before taking off. our correspondents and analysts are standing by with the breaking news. tom has the latest. >> this is indeed some of the most protected air space in the world and he made no real secret about what he was doing. he was questioned by the secret service previously.

he had a website where he laid out what he was doing and why. he did interviews with the "tampa bay times." he helped them come up with an extensive video explaining his plan. >> i'm not suicidal. i'm not going to commit suicide. i'm not going to fly into any monuments. terrorists don't announce their flights before they take off. terrorists don't broadcast their flight path. terrorists don't invite an escort to go along with them. >> reporter: that video and his website show in great detail what hughes was planning, how refs preparing to be the pilot and protester in the final moments. >> this is not good, people. >> reporter: as captured in this video obtained by the associated press. >> i'm going to violate the no fly zone nonviolently.

i'm going to land on the capitol mall in front of the capitol building. i'm going to have 535 letters in the landing gear in boxes. those letters are going to be addressed to every member of the congress. >> reporter: he is over 60 and speaks of his fear of being intercepted long before reaching the capitol. >> i don't believe the authorities are going to shoot down a 60-year-old mailman. i'm going to give them plenty of warning so they know who i am and what i'm doing and that it is intended to be nonviolent. >> reporter: in the end, as the video shows his loading up his aircraft he speaks with passion about the need for this dramatic step arguing, in his eyes no less than the fate of the nation rests in campaign finance reform. >> i would rather die in the

flight than live to be 80 years old and see this country fall. >> reporter: you look at this video and see all the different ways he let people know what he was doing. astonishing, if it's true he would have been outside the area where you have to tell the faa you are coming in. outside the no-fly zone. this would have taken about two hours or more. yet, through all of that he would have made it to what's called the p-56 zone. it is a very highly guarded zone here and here. wolf, he never seemed to met any real resistance as we came to the front of the capitol and managed to put down right there. wolf, there are extraordinary questions being asked saying how is that possible. basically a flying lawn mower came in at 25 miles an hour coming in unchallenged and

unchecked. >> shocking development. there's going to be extensive investigations. they have to learn the lessons. thanks very much. the shocking inging incident here in washington comes three months after an unmanned drone crashes on the white house lawn. questions about security here in the nation's capitol where air space is supposed to be highly restricted. among the most restricted in the world. renee is joining us near the scene where this all went down. what is the latest from your perspective over there? >> reporter: well i can tell you, wolf all the action was happening over my left shoulder here. we know that the bomb squad was able to come in. they did not find anything hazardous. they have since taken away this gyro copter. we have information about the flight path according to a law enforcement source. the pilot flew out of gettysburg

airport in pennsylvania before it landed here at the capitol. we are told by evan perez, an investigative team from the secret service is headed to the area where this flight originally took off from. that is the latest. that's very alarming because before we didn't know how long this gyrocopter was in the air. it traveled all the way from gettysburg pennsylvania. i spoke with norad. by the time they were notified it landed. that means it made the flight from pennsylvania to the capitol and norad didn't get a phone call until it made its landing. >> no scrambling of any aircraft is that right? >> reporter: right. they did not. by the time they knew what the

situation was, or at least by the time norad got the information, again, it had already landed. as we know there's a chain of command of how this process works when there is this unidentified aircraft in what is hypersensitive air space here around the capitol as well as the white house. you have agencies like the faa, which controlled the air space. they are always monitoring. however, secret service is always monitoring as well as capitol police. dhs has their eyes. they are all looking on radar to essentially monitor who is flying in and out of this area. when they see something suspicious they get on a conference call and start speaking to each other. they determine the threat assess the threat and a determination is made. do we scramble jetts or how do we handle this? norad saying because of the type

of aircraft it was, if they were going to scramble anything it would have been the coast guard chopper as oppose zed to the military jet. the jet couldn't slow down enough to intercept this gyrocopter. >> thanks very much. there was certainly chaos in the capitol when it landed. lawmakers were among those forced into lockdown. let's go to cnns athena hill. tell us what it was like. >> reporter: it was quite a scene for several moments. it wasn't at all clear what was going on and how big of a threat there was. i was standing outside the senate foreign relations committee room on the first floor of the capitol. that's where the iraqi prime minister was meeting with members of the that committee. of course a leader like that is going to travel with a lot of security. there were several security

officers police officers outside of that room. that's when we began to hear that familiar distintive crackling on the radio. we were asking what's going on. suddenly we saw at least a half dozen uniformed officers running past us in a couple directions heading outside, we figured out. we asked what's happening. we were told at the time a helicopter landed on the west front of the capitol and police didn't know why and didn't know who it was. there was certainly a lot of confusion. it ended up being this smaller aircraft, this gyrocopter. even though the capitol was not evacuated and there was a brief lock down we did hear police discussing the need to potentially evacuate the iraqi prime minister. they talked of taking him through the opposite side of the capitol, the side that faces the supreme court. they were preparing to do that.

in the end, they didn't. within a few minutes this man was brought into custody, detained for questioning and the situation was brought under control. folks around here have a lot of questions. the top democrat on the house, homeland security committee told my colleague he had deep concerns. obviously law enforcement should have kept closer tabs on this person since the secret service knew about him. he could have done significant harm. a lot of questions around here. >> as there should be. thanks very much. before the security scare, many of you didn't know much about this thing called a gyrocopter. we sent our cnn correspondent out to learn more about this type of aircraft. tell us about a gyrocopter. >> reporter: it sounds like a futuristic name the gyrocopter.

it is used by a lot of hobbyists. it's cheaper than helicopters and burns four to five gallons of gas an hour and runs on the same fuel to fill up your car with. i want to show you this version of a gyrocopter. this is different than what the pilot flew on capitol grounds today. this is manufactures. look how small this is. it has two seats. it has a lot of the cockpit regulations that the faa requires. these pilots here tell me it seems a lot more high-tech than what the pilot was flying today if that's any indication of his potentially unregulated a plane wour. one of the main differences between this gyrocopter and a helicopter is the amount of time it takes to take off. this needs a little bit of runway it doesn't fly up like a helicopter. also the way it is able to

hover. it's not able to hover like a helicopter. a pilot spoke how they were largely unregulated. he calls this side of pilots taking to the air ways rebels of aviation. he says their security is in question and that is a concern to all pilots. >> this type of aviation where someone is able to fly into the capitol is a big concern for all pilots. we face a time after 9/11 where there's a lot of restricts on how we fly. we are trying to be better citizens. having someone do this does jeopardize the way we are able to access the air space. >> reporter: he says these are large gaps in how the faa regulates the gyrocopters. today's incident draws that into question. he says the faa requires a gyrocopter to be regulated and manufactured. if it weighs less than 254, it

does not have to be regulated. it cannot go faster than 63 miles an hour and has to be single passenger. that could be a reason why we see that plane get up in the air without being regulated by the faa. >> thanks very much. let's talk about more about the security risk exposed. joining us are law enforcement analyst, director of the fbi and justice reporter evan perez. you have been talking to a lot of sources. were they totally taken by surprise? they didn't know he was flying from gettysburg pennsylvania to the capitol until he landed on the u.s. capitol grounds? >> they just didn't. he gave plenty of notice. he tried to give people notice. he was concerned he would be shot down. he didn't count on the fact the government didn't have a plan to deal with this technology. we have talked about the government coming up with

jamming technology to bring down drones that might be trying to fly into the white house or the capitol. we know they have nothing to counter technology that is more closer to kitty hawk that 21st century drone technology. they don't know what they are going to do about this. they are looking at bringing charges against this man simply because they don't believe they can let it go. >> they have to learn some lessons. this is awkward, but humiliating what happened. >> it is. they need to come up with a strategy how to deal with this airport. they don't have one. you have so many agencies pointing fingers at each other. the capitol police. park service police while it flies over the mall. so many different agencies with overlapping or not overlapping security responsibilities. there's a lot of cracks to slip through and he went through

them. >> he was carrying a box of letters to all members of the house and senate. a two-page letter calling for campaign finance reform. but, this is the concern law enforcement has, national security has, he could have been carrying a bomb or missile or explosives in there and flown into the capitol. >> he could have done that. it's probably not enough to bring down the building but it is enough to kill some people and to do some damage. in this case you know the secret service says they went down and interviewed this guy a year ago after they got the tip, wolf. at the time he said he didn't have any kind of device like this any kind of airport like this a gyrocopter. looks like nothing came of it after that. >> i have heard people say in law enforcement, the terrorists are watching, they could learn from this. >> absolutely. what they are see sg a debach l

where there's no security. there's no evidence anybody was going to scramble. he could have probably gotten back in and out before they came after him. >> shocking. thanks very much. we are going to have more coming up on the breaking news and what it tells us about homeland security. congressman ed royce is walk sboog the "situation room" right now. kons man, thank you for joining us. we have lots to discuss. you want me to pick just one? yeah, right. i say if it looks tasty,

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breaking now, isis terrorists may, repeat may be on the brink of a dangerous victory in a region american troops once fought and died to defend. officials in iraq feel this city of ramadi an hour and a half from baghdad could fall at any moment. our chief national correspondent has the latest on the fierce battles under way. what is the latest? >> we are hearing different views of the situation on the ground in ramadi. the city is under siege from all sides and in danger of falling to isis. the u.s. military says a fall is not imminent. the city remains contested. a major offensive is under way for the largest city in anbar in western iraq. ramadi under fire. scene of the latest fierce clashes between isis and iraqi government forces. tonight, an iraqi official warns

cnn the city may fall to the terror group. local residents are fleeing, fearing for their life. the isis gain comes as the prime minister is on capitol hill asking u.s. lawmakers and the president for more military help. >> this is a long process and in our discussions, the prime minister made clear that success will not -- >> reporter: u.s. warplanes are carrying out air strikes in support of forces in ramadi. as cnns arwa damon saw this week they are training troops in the area. former commanders say the isis gains have implications for iraq blocking off the area from crucial reinforcement from baghdad. the city has a long bloody history. during the u.s.-led war, brutal combat claimed 75 american lives

in two months in 2006. now, isis is also advancing on the oil refinery a key piece of infra infrastructure infrastructure. if successful, opportunity to claim victory after the terror group's recent loss in nearby tikrit. >> this is isis trying to change the headline from we lost to we are attacking. i don't think anyone thought they had a chance of approaching that. >> reporter: as the war on isis continues, especially the air campaign the group is coming to be seen as a gorilla force. this is a group holding off a well trained, well funded iraqi military and holding vast areas of military and the largest city in iraq mosul. major operation to retake mosul gets pushed off months and

months. the earliest the fall some say next year. >> the second largest city in iraq. 2 million people controlled by isis not the military. they abandoned that. it was an awful, awful situation. let's get more now. joining us the chairman of the house, ed royce. thank you for joining us. i know you and some of your colleagues met with the visiting prime minister here in washington on capitol hill. did he tell you why the iraqi military trained by the u.s. armed by the u.s. financed by the u.s. after more than a decade is now effectively missing in action once again, in ramadi? >> he gave his arguments, wolf but we gave ours. specifically what i talked to him about was the fact it becomes exceedingly difficult to have the kurdish forces and sunni forces participate and push back isis as long as the government in baghdad shows

itself so under the influence of iran. in particular to have iranian officers on the ground with shia militia. this is something that makes it hard for the reconciliation to occur. >> this is why they took back tikrit. shia militia backed by iran revolutionary guard forces came in and did work. >> with our air power. what we are communicating to the government is do not be like the prior head of state. don't be like malachi. reach out, include the kurds and allow us to directly transfer weapons to the kurds. directly transfer weapons to the defense to the sunnis trying to hold off these attacks. you and i know if the kurdish forces had the weaponry they needed isis wouldn't have made these gains. but, it's not just baghdad that influences this.

it's iran. >> as you know president obama said the u.s. should give $200 million in what do you call it? humanitarian aid to iraq. $200 million. it's a lot of money. he also wants more presumably the iraqis are asking for more weapons, apache helicopters, armored personnel carriers. is this a dpood idea? >> they can make enormous gains. all they need is to be able to counter the weapons. they need anti-tank, artillery. the most effective force in the field is not operation. as long as the men and women in the kurdish units strung out over the 600-mile front can't get access to the weapons, which baghdad won't transfer to hem. what we are suggesting in congress is let's transfer it directly to them so they can

defend their position and push back. >> you want the weapons to go to the kurds, not the military, that can't be trusted anymore. >> the weapons that were transferred in the past to the iraqi military they have got to show that they are going to heal national reck siluation so they can, together be a nation and fight. >> a lot of the military weapons left behind the iraqi military abandoned abandoned, now in the hands of isis fighters isis terrorists. it's an awful situation. chairman stay with us. we have much more to discuss. we'll take a quick break and be right back. i care deeply about the gulf. i grew up in louisiana. i went to school here. i've been with bp ever since. today, i lead a team that sets our global safety standards. after the spill we made two commitments.

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we are back with the chairman house committee. we are following breaking news. the pilot of a small aircraft is in custody after flying his gyrocopter through restricted air space and landing on the u.s. capitol grounds. what was it like when you heard some guy with a small little aircraft the gyrocopter as it's called lands just outside the capitol building? >> i was in a classified briefing at the time. when i came out of the briefing i saw the capitol police

scurrying. after a few conversations to disearn what was going on here what's amazing, of course to us in the capitol is how far he got through restricted air space. >> how could that happen? this is arguably the most restricted air space, not only in the united states but maybe in the world especially after what happened on 9/11. >> on 9/11 and also with all we know about isis and all we know about the ways in which terrorists are trying to carry out attacks. i am certain there will be major investigations now to set up a new leadership and a new way, you know with the capitol police and with other organizations to defend the capitol should anybody ever try to come over with this device that carries some kind of weaponry. >> you know what? this guy was advertising for a year apparently that he wanted to do this. he told the "tampa bay times" he

wanted to do this. he was advertising. the secret service interviewed him a year ago. he took off from gettysburg flew for two hours and eventually got to the capitol. he's okay. he could have been shot down and killed in the process. he had letters because of campaign fund raising and money going in there. he could have had a bach of a missile or explosives. he didn't and he is okay. >> that is right, he could have carried any of that. that is why this is a disaster in terms of the ability to apprehend him or turn him back in terms of the air space. >> you wrote an important article. i want to briefly get to that in a moment. what do you think of russia going ahead and selling missiles to iran before the sanctions are supposed to be lifted even

before there's a final agreement? >> they will make it very very hard should they violate the agreement in the future. if there's an attempt at enforcing the agreement, these s-300s are surface-to-air missiles. they can be used as they have been used in the past as attacks on israel. they have apprehended iran trying to send them to hamas and hezbollah. >> if the russians send them to iran they could end up in lebanon with hezbollah or hamas? >> that is what we have found. russia rushing in with a huge delivery of these, there is more here than just arming the air defense systems around the military bases in iran. >> you argue the u.s. needs a new counter offensive against russian propaganda in this article. >> that is correct. russia is now expanding

conspiracy theories with a slick method based on media and the internet. they are doing it in a way to reach russian speaking pop lags and problems in ukraine and the baltic states and other op populations around the world to cut them short and sell the idea of a strong man type government like the one led by russia. >> thanks for coming in. up next we'll have more on that battle for key iraqi city. how close is it to falling under control of isis? we'll have more on the breaking news. the syria security scare here in washington at the u.s. capitol as an aircraft lands on congress' doorstep. ♪ ♪ the pursuit of healthier. it begins from the second we're born. after all, healthier doesn't happen

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more now on the critical iraqi city of rama any. it's under siege now. now there's growing fear the terrorist forces could take complete control, literally, at any moment. 150,000 people have been forced out of their homes in the last few days. arwa damon reported that for us. she's on the scene.

phillip is the author of "the head game" he's here with us. general hartling, put in into context what's going on. the battle for rama any. a now, it looks like isis could take charge. >> there has been significant fighting in anbar province by the security force. that has gone unreported over the last several weeks. i have been watching it and watching the tactical engagement. there's going to be a heck of a fight for ramadi and fa lucia. they have been holding on out there while the operations in tikrit have been going. it's got to become the main effort. they have to get support of the

sunni tribal in the region before he heads to mosul as jim reported earlier. it's going to be a tough fight, wolf. >> it is. the iraqi military has been criticized because of its performanceover lack of performance in mosul. why can't they protect their own people? >> well, they are holding on to a couple buildings in ramadi wolf. the fact is over the last couple weeks, the shia have been pushing militia's into ramadi and hoping to take it back as they did in tikrit. the locals, all sunni muslims, arabs have been pushing back and supporting isis trying to defend ramadi and flew shah. this is not going well. the united states warned the iraqis. you can't use the militia's in sunni areas, but they are not

listening at this point. it's quite a dilemma for the united states to get baghdad to understand this. >> i remember phil when i went there in 2005 with then commander, i walked through there at the time. a lot of american marines and other troops died in that battle as you remember. to now think that ramadi, these places where so many american men were severely injured, if not killed and women, they are going to go into the hands of isis. it's heart breaking. >> not yet. take a time-out here. we talked about this months ago. isis had the element of surprise. they had the iraqi military on its heels. other the past months iraqi military made territorial gains. you can look at it as a military failure. it's a sign of success. as isis lost territory, they are looking at places to redeem

itself. places to say to its followers, maybe there's another area we can have some success. this is not necessarily a sign that isis is on a role. it's a sign they are looking for geographic areas where the military is weak. >> you buy that? >> it's a good analysis. why they are focusing on ramadi is the question. this is where the tribal movement began against al qaeda in iraq. in 2007 started reaching out to the sunni tribes to fight al qaeda in iraq. it's a significance to al qaeda and the united states. this is really where al qaeda began to face its first big defeat. >> you know it's an awful situation. one final question to you, phil about this gyrocopter incident here. what kind of damage potentially, god forbid we don't want to it happen. say this was a bad guy, not a mailman seeking to change

campaign fund raising laws in the united states. a terrorist coming in on a gyrocopter like this up to the u.s. capitol with explosives or missiles or some sort of bomb. potentially, what kind of damage could have been done to the u.s. capitol and people inside? >> look this could have happened years ago. you could put an explosive device on that. in my world, it's a big site for a gyrocopter that small. what i worry about is not a manned device. i worry about increasingly unmanned drones that have the capability to follow a presidential motorcade without somebody on a gyrocopter with an explosive device that can take out a vehicle. i think we are get sboog a new age of unmanned capability against a target like the president of the united states. we didn't see it today, we could see it in the future. >> thanks very very much. more breaking news coming up. air space invade t a the u.s.

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a shadow of scandal over the new jersey governor chris christie as he tests the waters of a possible presidential campaign. the so-called bridgedate controversy in which top christie aides are suspected of deliberately creating massive traffic jams by ordering lanes

closed on a busy bridge as an act of political retaliation. our senior washington correspondent joe johns is joining us live from new hampshire. what's the latest with chris christie and his potential presidential ambition? >> well wolf he's trying to get a restart here in new hampshire. talking tough about hillary clinton and trying to establish himself as a truth-teller on some of the toughest issues including social security and medicare. >> reporter: new jersey governor chris christie needing voters in new hampshire today. but struggling to avoid the bridgegate controversy that may hurt his political ambitions. >> when he told me you were coming here i personally made sure the bridges were still open. >> i heard a lot of wiseguys at the start of the morning, so that was good. which direction is the bridge? >> reporter: christie continues to say the bridge scandal

occurred because "at my core i'm a trusting person. i believe in the honesty of other people and i think for me i'm also someone who likes to delegate responsibility to people and let them perform." the case is wrapping up. cnn has learned that no charges will be brought against governor christie. he's in the clear. the fate of his aides who are also part of the investigation remains under clear. christie is trying to sell voters on his brand of politics. his plan to cut $1 trillion from entitlement programs over the next decade including means testing for social security. >> politicians don't want to talk about it because it rates heartburn in some people. these problems create heartburn with people. >> reporter: christie is making the bold prediction that should he run he could bate hillary clinton. >> let me ask you about mirs clinton's campaign. can you beat her? >> if i run i will beat her. >> reporter: at a town hall heeg in londonderry he dinged mrs.

clinton for her campaign fund-raising goals. >> i read secretary clinton intends to raise $2.5 billion for her campaign she wants to then get the corrupting money out of politics. that's classic, right? it's classic politician speak. >> reporter: so how long is it going to take hillary clinton to get into this -- sorry, how long is it going to take the governor of new jersey to get into this race? pretty much anybody's guess. but he did tell a crowd here at a town hall that it might be the end of the spring or early june. >> the end of the spring early june not that far away. we'll see what happens. thanks joe jornshns for that. gloria borger jeff zellny mia mallika, thanks very much. how much a problem this is bridgegate? >> i think we've seen it already already. he's not in the top tier of

candidates. he tries to establish himself as a truth-teller and a great manager, as governor. bridgegate of course plays against both of those narratives. i do think, however, it might have had a positive effect in one sense and that is i see a little bit less bluster in him. he was asked about bridgegate he was kind of chuckling about it. >> he smiled. >> he smiled. i think he's kind of watching himself a little bit, because that bully thing doesn't really work with women voters in particular. >> he's facing a little bit of a tough crowd in new hampshire among some republicans, imagine what he might be facing in iowa south carolina. >> new hampshire has to be a place he makes his stand. a northeast governor a republican. new hampshire, he sort of fits that spirit. but everything, his whole candidacy candidacy, is sort of on hold until those indictments come down. from fund-raising to political

plans to the fact that people don't necessarily want to work for him because they're not sure what his future is. i think once he gets out to iowa i've been out to iowa with him when he was campaigning last fall. he's actually popular enough there. and he does okay there. but again, you said if he can hold that humility and not shout at people. >> right. >> that's the big question here. >> he as blunt guy. he's taking a firm position on vaccines. there was a bit of controversy, he was asked about it today in new hampshire. >> he was. and he said that he didn't agree with voluntary vaccinations and the crowd cheered. this is where you would expect him to end up is where most. s are, where most americans are, where conservative states like mississippi are. i think at some point republicans, if they not there could be political edge to be gamed by this they quicklies. ed there wasn't much that this was more of a fringe issue. i think it's better for him to be more the law and order governor type. that's where he has come down. >> you think in the end he may decide not to run?

>> it depends on what happens with these indictments, to get back to jeff's point. but i think he will run. i don't think people are expecting him to get indicted. so i think he's going to have to answer a lot of questions. he's going to have to get through that. i'd be very surprised at this point if chris christie did not run. i will say that his part of the field is getting kind of crowded, you know. with jeb bush you didn't expect jeb bush to run. you have jeb rush chris christie i think that's going to be a challenge. >> a challenge indeed. hillary clinton, she's out there campaigning now in iowa. she took a very firm position today on same-sex marriage going beyond some of her earlier statements. >> she did, through a written statement though. she didn't talk about this out loud. her campaign released a statement saying she supports the legalization of same-sex marriage which she has not said as recently as last fall saying it should be up to state rshts she is coming out with this at the beginning of her campaign

one more example of how this issue has changed so much. the last time she ran in '08, body she and senator barack obama did not support the legalization of gay marriage. now you have to as a democrat but martin o'mally, former governor of maryland he said history celebrates "profiles in courage," not profiles in convenience. he didn't mention her specifically. but that was the point. of course he signed this into law in 2013. in his state in maryland. >> this issue of marriage equality is it going to be a bigger issue this time around? >> probably not not but it will still be a big issue. there's still 40% of americans who don't agree with smengs marriage. 60% of republicans. i think we'll hear it in terms of religious liberty. that's how it will be framed. as long as you have folks like maybe bobby jindal mike huckabee in this race it will be an issue. >> it's the supreme court that's going to do the heavy lift in the end. the supreme court's going to decide. for some republicans, that will

be welcome news for them. >> maybe they won't have to talk about it as much. >> that's before the end of june. we'll see where they come down on this. thanks very much for watching. don't forget to tweet me me @wolfblitzer. "erin burnett outfront" next. breaking news a major security breach in washington, d.c. a gyro copter flies undetected unchallenged through the world's most restricted air space, landing outside the capitol. the cap tear visible from the white house as it approaches. how could this happen? a former nfl star aaron hernandez guilty of murder sentenced to life in prison. no chance of parole. he was on campus as the verdict was read. mouthing "you're wrong." more breaking news. isis fighters in a siege of a major city. will the united states intervene? an exclusive report from the ground "outfront" tonight. let's go "outfront."