hello. i'm wolf blitzer. 1:00 p.m. in washington noon in cedar falls, iowa 8:00 p.m. in iraq. wherever you're watching from around the world thanks very much for joining us. up fir, hillary clinton finally breaking her campaign silence, answering five questions from reporters today in iowa she fielded those questions as part of her race for the white house. among other things she spoke about the war in iraq. here's a clip of what she said.

>> i know that there have been a lot of questions about iraq posed to candidate over the last weeks. i've made it very clear that i made a mistake, plain and simple and i have written about it in my book talked about it in the past and, you know, what we now see is a very different and very dangerous situation. the united states is doing what it can, but ultimately this has to be a struggle that the iraqi government and the iraqi people are determined to win for themselves. we can provide support but they're going to have to do it. >> senior washington correspondent jeff zeleny is out there in iowa he's covering the clinton campaign joining us from cedar falls right now. here in washington our political director david chalian and chief congressional correspondent dana bash. jeff let's start with you. she's been under a lot of fire for refusing over the past several weeks to take questions, serious questions, from reporters who are following her. what -- is there any background

why she decided finally to answer five questions from reporters today? >> wolf i think plain and simple just the math was leading to a way that it was time for her to do it. it had been 28 days at least by my count, since she had taken questions from reporters and there have had been democrats on her calling her to make her position clear on trade and other issues. i think it got clear to the point she just thought she had to answer questions. wolf i can tell you, she came over with a smile on her face and very good humor. she was not defensive at all. she was prepared for these questions. that's not been the issue, she's not prepared. she did not want to distract from her message which was supposed to be a small business event today on the economy. but, of course that was the distraction distraction. she and several questions, including defended her foundation. she said it did good work and several other things. >> she also responded to questions about the release of her e-mails during her time at the state department.

let me play that clip. >> i have said repeatedly i want those e-mails out. nobody has a bigger interest in getting them released than i do. i respect the state department they have their process that they do for everybody, not just for me but make that they might do to expedite that process, i hearttyly support. i want the american people to learn as much as we can about the work i did with our diplomats and development experts because i think it will show how hard we worked and what we did for our country during the time that i was secretary of state where i worked extremely hard on behalf of our values and our interests and our security and the e-mails are part of that. so i have said publicly i'm repeating it here in front of you today, i want them out as soon as they can get out. >> will you demand it? >> well they're not mine. they belong to the state department. >> a judge, jeff as you know suggested maybe the e-mails could be released on a rolling

basis. right now they will be released the state department says in january, a couple weeks before the iowa caucuses. you're in iowa right now. what would it mean if they were released on a rolling basis politically speaking? i assume hillary clinton and her campaign would like to get them out earlier than later? >> i think that's right. actually take her at her word for saying she would like them to be released soon. i think as we heard from the judge, she urged the state department to release them on a rolling basisp. the next six, nine months until the iowa caucuses and primaries beyond we are going to be talking about this. she still has to appear before the benghazi committee. all the e-mails will be released. they probably don't want them released in dribs and drabs. it would be untenable for them not to be released until january of 2016. voters would be asking questions about that quite a distraction. >> some analysis dana bash is

here. she's been under pressure a lot of criticism, only until now since she formally announced running for president of the united states answered 13 questions. today she answered five more. i wonder if there will be a running count. >> as long as they're few enough to count. >> what's your reaction when you see what she said on the two issues sensitive issues iraq she said she made a blunder, mistake, regrets that vote at the end of 2002 in favor of the war and the e-mails wants them out as quickly as possible. >> yeah. the issue is not whether hillary clinton knows how to answer a question. she does. she has been there and done that more times than most of the republicans combined. the issue is as jeff said staying on message. they have a very clear strategy at the beginning of her campaign. she doesn't need to get out and get known. everybody knows who she is. she needs to craft the kind of person candidate she wants people to know now. she answered that. the other thing i thought was interesting she was asked a question about the fact that she and her husband made $30

million. >> in the last 16 months. >> and whether or not she can relate to everyday average americans and she had a fine answer. it's not necessarily how much we make. we remember where we came from. obviously there are other candidates democrats in history, who have been wealthier than they. >> and to that point there, wolf i think what you see here is a candidate getting a little better on the campaign trail. you gave the perfect example. last year when her book came out she was asked about the money and her speaking fee, she had that total faux pas and gaffe and being dead broke. she pivoted the question about her finances to the middle class message and being for people not the at top 1%. she went to her campaign message. same on the e-mails. putting it out there. she wasn't defensive at all. if you're inside the hillary clinton campaign and an advisers you would want to show her that tape and say we should do this more often because she's not bad

at this. it's just that they build up this head of steam and it becomes this press narrative of her not taking questions, not taking questions, the republicans pile on and it seems unnecessary. because she can actually dispatch with some ease when she is sort of focused the way she clearly was here. >> something super inciteful and important here which is that she does look for comfortable. she clearly feels more comfortable. and perhaps she got that way because she has been doing this behind closed doors, yes, with handpicked people but real human beings and not, you know, memberers of her political team or family people she's trying to meet. it has helped her. >> more of what hillary said coming up this hour. that whole exchange where she was asked about all the money, the $30 million the last year and a half or whatever she and her husband made bernie sanders who is challenging her for the democratic nomination has joined us live here on cnn and we will get his reaction and more.

jeff talk about what el she's doing today out there in iowa. iowa was the state she fumbled back in 2008. this time she wants to make sure there are no fumbles. snoo>> no question about itp. she came in third place behind barack obama, of course but behind john edwards. that's one of the reasons she is taking it slow and sort of shrinking the size of her campaign this time. she was at a house party yesterday afternoon taking questions without reporters there to see this but 60 people or so were asking her questions. she was trying to focus on the small business economy here in iowa. she is doing not all that much campaigning. she'll be leaving iowa later this afternoon, going to chicago for some fund-raisers tomorrow and then off to new hampshire later at the end of the week. this is building up to what her campaign says is a big announcement of sort of a bigger framing speech that i'm told will happen in early june. that's when she's going to really sort of begin all this and outline what she's

campaigning for. so far she's trying to do this chapter by chapter. she didn't come here expecting to take questions but one adviser said he thought they made a mistake by not talking to a local reporter over the last couple weeks. it had build up in a head of steam. that's why she did what she did today. >> reaction from bernie sanders from vermont who is also running for the democratic nomination. we will get his reaction later this hour. up next the battle for ramadi and the surprising strategy isis used to beat iraqi forces. why law enforcement now in waco, texas is addressing serious concerns that bikers bikers there may retaliate against police. i want to first go to robert kraft owner of the new england patriots. he's speaking about what's called deflategate, the nfl's

punishment of the new england patriots and tom brady the star quarterback. let's listen to mr. kraft. >> i have the privilege of going to a meeting similar to what we're at here in orlando and being welcomed in an nfl owners meeting. so here's a fan and a former season ticket holder living a dream and being welcomed in that room. i got goose bumps that day. and i vowed at that time that i would do everything i could do to make the new england patriots an elite team and hopefully respected throughout the country and at the same time do whatever i could do to try to help the nfl become the most popular sport in america. you know what i've learned over the last two decades, is that the heart and soul of the

strength of the nfl that is a partnership of 32 teams and what's become very clear over those two decades that at no time should the agenda of one team outweigh the collective good of the full 32. so i have a way of looking at problems that are very strong in my mind and before i make a final decision i measure nine times and i cut once. and i think maybe if i had made the decision last week it would be different that be it is today. but believing in the strength of the partnership and the 32 teams, we have concentrated the power of adjudication of problems in the off of the

commissioner and although i might disagree with what is decided, i do have respect for the commissioner and believe that he's doing what he perceives to be in the best interest of the full 32. so in that spirit i don't want to continue the rhetoric that's gone on for the last four months. i'm going to accept reluctantly what he has given to us and not continue this dialog and rhetoric and we won't appeal. now i know that a lot of patriot fans are going to be disappointed in that decision but i hope they trust my judgment and know that i really feel at this point in time that

taking this off the agenda this is the best thing for the new england patriots our fans and the nfl and i hope you all can respect that. you know i would normally take questions, but my desire is truly not to continue the rhetoric and so i'm going to leave this discussion exactly here. thank you very much. >> major, major development in the nfl, the national football league robert kraft you heard him, the owner of the new england patriots now saying reluctantly he's going to accept the punishment that the nfl commissioner gave the new england patriots over that so-called deflategate episode, the scandal, the star quarterback tom brady he will be suspended for four games without pay. the new england patriots will

pay $1 million, $1 million in a fine to the nfl. they'll lose their first round draft choice. this coming here and the following year a fourth round draft choice. he thinks this is better for the nfl, even though last week he says he would have made a very different decision. so once again, the new england patriots will not appeal the decision by the nfl commissioner. they will -- the patriots will go ahead and accept the punishment and then move on. major development. we'll continue. lots of breaking news here on cnn right after this. big day? ah, the usual. moved some new cars. hauled a bunch of steel. kept the supermarket shelves stocked. made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. what's up for the next shift? ah, nothing much. just keeping the lights on. (laugh) nice. doing the big things that move an economy. see you tomorrow, mac. see you tomorrow, sam. just another day at norfolk southern.

to iraq where the iraqi military ha launched an offensive against isis days after the fall of ramadi the provincial capital of the anbar pro vince. they're taking ground from isis in the area between fallujah and ramadi. joining us from beirut is senior international correspondent nick paton walsh monitoring weight going on and from the pentagon barbara starr. first of all, barbara, have commanders at the pentagon revealed what the strategy is to try to retake ramadi because the fall of ramadi the huge city in the anbar province to isis represents a major setback

for iraq for the u.s. for the coalition? >> wolf right now there is no new plan by the u.s. no new plan by the u.s. military. air strikes will continue we're told but again, this is an urban area so air strikes into a city are very tough business because of the risk of civilian casualties. no additional u.s. troops on the ground no real new plan. the idea is to make the iraqis more capable, to go back in and do it. there is going to be by all accounts a lot of reliance on the shia militias gathering in the desert perhaps to try to go back in to this sunni majority city and also sunni tribes that are seeking arms so they can go fight. that's a sectarian cauldron but right now it looks like it is going to have to be a ground fight. the u.s. will advise but the u.s. not changing its plan air strikes only wolf. >> nick the problem with the ground fight is that the iraqi

military clearly has proven to be rather inept, if you will. they really need backup. the only backup realistically is going to come from those iranian backed shiite militias and that could represent a major problem with the sunni majority in the anbar province. talk about that. >> well that's true. a slight glimmer of light about that today, wolf when the iraqi prime minister haider al abadi suggested they would potentially seek to arm the sunni tribes of anbar. they've long wanted weapons but it's been the shia government in baghdad slow, in fact, obstructive to put those in their hand but yes, those iranian backed shia militia certainly complicated incohesive force, names perhaps familiar from the fight in iraq the baathist organization groups which fought against the u.s. and now are fighting together in what's called the al shabbi the

mobilize the group of people otherwise known as popular mobilization units, but they are at times a loose group. they don't necessarily always act together or with unity. one of the criticisms about what's happened to the fall of ramadi they didn't move in on mass to try to get in the fight in earlier stage and we heard reports from the ground when in the fight, they often seem to think the iraqi army is subordinate to them. iraqi army put up a lengthy fight for ramadi but something snapped causing them to retreat quickly. people are really trying to ask what that was. was it the intensity of the isis assault or something else going on too? >> the iraqi army left behind huge quantities of military equipment presumably in the hands of isis. stand by because we're also learning more about that isis offensive that captured ramadi. the new york times now reporting that these isis forces used a sandstorm to cover their advance into ramadi in the early stages of the assault, the cover from the storm may have neutralized

u.s. coalition air strikes around the city. let's get some analysis from retired major general james spider marks our cnn military analyst, former officer for the coalition land forces in iraq what do you make of that i guess pretty smart move if there was a heavy sandstorm, air cover, air power was really not that usable, it seems to have been a pretty capable strategy the isis forces have. >> strategy and a combination of taking advantage of the conditions on the ground absolutely in fact when we -- when the united states and the coalition forces invaded iraq back in march of '03, we had a similar circumstance about day three of the invasion where we had sandstorms combined with some other factors that caused this to really reduce the number of air strikes we could apply. not to be surprised by that at all. also the fact that the -- that isis forces isolated ramadi

from support from the routes coming in and they did that first. isolate the objective which they did effectively and with a lot of shock and immediate action were able to crack into ramadi and without much resistance take it over. so we now have a situation where ramadi belongs to isis and they'll kind of deepen their hold on it. that can drag them down but they've demonstrated like they have in mosul the capability to provide governance. >> it's not just the staying in ramadi. a lot more military equipment including armored personnel carriers maybe tanks, battle tanks, a lot more weapons, a lot more ammunition and a lot of isis guys these are trained military officers who used to work in the military of saddam hussein so they know how to use this military equipment, don't they? >> they do. that's the backbone of isis. your inspirational leadership but what you have is a number of aggrieved individuals that were imprisoned by the united states

and the coalition right after we invaded, right after the invasion back in '03 and for various reasons were released and they now are professional soldiers providing the backbone of the leadership in the formations that isis is showing in battle. >> so it's clearly not just the ragtag group of terrorists. >> not at all. >> sophisticated in their military capability why they took over mosul, a city of 2 million and have been able to retain it over the past year. now they have ramadi a city of a half million people and presumably that fight will continue. what's going to be the role of these iranian backed shiite militias? will they come in and help the iraqi military try to retake this city of ramadi? >> wolf it's complicated, but the only ones that are showing up in battle are the shia militia. the qods force, mujahedeen used to be a terrorist organization that the united states labelled as a terrorist organization so the badder corps, these are

tehran backed iranian motivated militia forces that have great training. they're showing up in battle. the complication is that ramadi is in the sunni portion of iraq. the introduck of shia fighters in that part of iraq going into a predominantly sunni city becomes much more difficult. however, they are the ones that have demonstrated the backbone and can get it done. >> spider marks, thank for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. >> there's another major story we're following here in the united states. police, they're still at the scene of a biker brawl that killed nine people. just ahead, why they're so concerned about a wave of retaliation between rival gangs and against police.

there's a major story we're following in the united states in texas, police there in waco, tk scrambling to prevent another outbreak of serious violence between warring biker gangs but fears more angry and armed bikers could be headed to the area right now, might be seeking revenge for sunday's deadly biker shoot-out. meanwhile, investigators are expected to finish their work at the crime scene today. they're compiling evidence from the battle that killed nine gang members and injured doens more. police say they found kniveses guns club chains at the site of the brawl. more than 170 bikers ended up in jail. let's bring in tom fuentes a cnn law enforcement analyst.

was this a surprise to you? >> it's a surprise by the number of killings at one time but the fact that the bikers could go at each other like that not a surprise at all. the fbi, atf, law enforcement across the country have been fighting against these biker gangs for decades and hell's angels still bigger that the outlaws and bandidos and cossacks in this case. the fact that they would have a turf battle and have their brawls with guns is nothing surprising about them. >> here's what waco police said a little while ago at a news conference. listen to this. >> there have. credible reliable threats towards law enforcement if and around our area. i will tell you those have toned down a bit over the past 24 hours. we have absolutely tlankful of that. i made mention last night there has been enough tragedy and there's been enough bloodshed in waco texas. we would appreciate there not being any more. are we asking for cooperation

from known criminal bike gangs, absolutely we are. we are asking them to stand down we are asking them to let us sort through our investigation and we will be honest with them as well as we were honest with you all and will continue to be. >> what do you think? what's your reaction when you hear that from the police sergeant? >> i'll be surprised if there is this big influx of bikers coming into waco to seek revenge against bikers or the police. if they're going to do something they'll pick and choose their battles. they may assassination or ambush police officers at a later time or place. to come into waco in force the police will be waiting in force now. you have 170 of them already in jail so they can't get even with each other there. they're in prison. their bikes have been impounded. the rest of the gang members are going to be reluctant to come to town and end up having to go home on bicycles instead of motorcycle. i don't see it happening this way. >> you've studied these outlaw

motorcycle gangs as they're called over the years, the bandidos. tell us a little bit, it's not just a u.s. problem it's an international problem. >> the bandidos aren't even number one in the u.s. obviously hell's angels is still number one. the bandidos have between 2,000 and 2500 members and 93s u.s. chapters and 13 international chapters and i was just in australia last week haeg a police presentation in queensland about a huge issue they have with the bandidos. the gold coast of queensland -- >> in australia. >> and a series of laws that have been passed making it illegal to even belong to the bandidos, for three or more of them to be gathered wearing their biker jackets, their colors and a number of other things treating them as a serious organized crime group which we have in the country really before 9/11 all of the outlaw motorcycle gang were treated as organized crime groups. from the fbi standpoint that's tapered off a little bit, not

completely but a little bit since 9/11 and atf has stood up greater operations against them with undercover operations and big investigations. >> tom fuentes, good analysis thanks very much. still ahead, he's running for president of the united states. what would bernie sanders do about iraq if he were president. he's standing by live we'll talk with the vermont senator. >> he's challenging hillary clinton for the democratic nomination. stay with us. the network that monitors her health. the secure cloud services that store her genetic data the servers and software on a mission to find the perfect match. and the mom who gets to hear her daughter's heart beat once again. we're helping organizations transform the way they work so they can transform the lives of the people they serve. you total your brand new car. nobody's hurt,but there will still be pain. it comes when your insurance company says they'll only pay three-quarters

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. welcome back to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. let's talk about the race for the white house, income inequality a major issue in the 2016 presidential race. hillary clinton has made headlines over the revelation she and her husband former president bill clinton made about $30 million since last year alone and speaking fees $5 million for the book that she wrote. listen to what she said about that when she spoke to reporters just a little while ago. >> on your income disclosure that came out on friday you are in the tip top echelon of earners in this country. how do you expect everyday americans to relate to you? >> well obviously bill and i have been blessed and we're very grateful for the opportunities that we had, but we've never forgotten where we came from and we've never forgotten the kind of country that we want to see for our granddaughter and that means that we're going to fight to make sure that everybody has

the same chances to live up to his or her own god given potential. so i think that most americans understand that the deck is stacked for those at the top and i am running a campaign that is very clearly stating we want to reshuffle that deck. we want to get back to having more opportunities for more people so that they can make more out of their own lives. >> all right. let's talk about that and more with the vermont senator, democratic presidential candidate bernie sanders. senator, thanks very much for coming in. what's your reaction when you hear that say that about income inequality a huge issue for you. >> it's an issue i've been talking about many years and what we need to do is be specific about what we're going to do about it. today, 99% of all new income is going to the top 1%. top one tenth of 1%. >> do you include her in that 0.1%? is that what you're saying? >> i don't know. i don't know if they're that high. >> is that a problem that she and her husband made $30 million for the past 16 months or so

speaking and writing a book? >> well it's a problem with the more serious problem is what do we do about the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality in america today. we need to create decent paying jobs rebuilding our insta treasure. say to the wealthiest people you have to start paying your fair share of taxes. you can't stash your money in the kaman islands. what you have to do is say that everybody in this country, regardless of their income if they have the ability they're going to get a college education and today i just introduced legislation that would make public colleges and universities tuition-free. >> where is the money going to come from? >> a tack on wall street speculation where it should come. >> what does that mean? >> right now, you have people who are becoming phenomenally wealthy speculating in derivatives and every other esew

terric instrument they can. we're going to impose what exists in dozens of countries around the world a modest tax on the transfer rence of large amounts of stocks. >> will that pay for tuition free education. >> this is an effective and progressive way to raise money. the estimate is it could bring in as much as $300 billion a year. >> do you think republicans will go along with this? >> of course they're not. >> it's not going to become the law. >> i don't think it's going to be passed tomorrow. what we have to do is the american people will go along with it. the american people think it's absurd our young people are leaving school deeply in debt and young people can't afford to go to college. >> is hillary clinton committed to this cause as are you? >> wolf you have to ask hillary. i don't work for her. i don't know. >> you know her position. >> well i mean she has to -- i just introduced legislation. i don't know where hillary clinton is coming on this. i believe we got to join germany, scandinavia, many other countries around the world and say if you have the ability regardless of your income you will be able to go to college.

>> you want to raise taxes. >> on the wealthiest in the country absolutely. >> the war in iraq, you remember in 2007/2008 a young freshman senator named barack obama who opposed the war going to war in iraq back in 2003 made this an issue because hillary clinton as a united states senator voted in favor of that resolution authorizing the war. you opposed that resolution. you spoke out very passionately against that resolution. we went back took a look at the statements you were making. is this going to be an issue for you in challenging hillary clinton now? are you going to bring that up again against her? >> i think it's a fair issue. and what the issue is about, not just looking back in hindsight as you indicated i very much opposed the war, worried about the destabilization it would bring in the region. hillary clinton and everybody else had the same information i had. and i made my decision she made her decision. it's not different, for example than what took place about

deregulating wall street. i opposed the deregulation of wall street and pretty much predicted what would happen in terms of the wall street crash. other people did not. >> you disagree with her on the wall street issue too. >> i certainly disagree with her husband on that. she hasn't been clear where she's coming from. my point you get information and you make the best judgment you can. >> on iraq what will you say to the voters in iowa and new hampshire, i opposed the war, hillary supported the war? >> you have to go beyond that. that's ancient history. where are we right now? the answer is as a result of this war, we destabilized the region give rise to al qaeda, isis, what we need now, this is not easy stuff, i think the president is trying you need to bring them together in an international coalition, wolf led by the muslim countries themselves. saudi arabia has the third largest military budget in the world. they will have to get their hands dirty in the fight. we should be supportive. at the end of the day this is a fight over what islam is about,

the soul of islam. we should support those countries taking on isis. >> senator rand paul of kentucky running for the republican nomination making a major issue trying to block any resumption of the pate act surveillance program by the national security agency. i want to play this clip and then we'll discuss. >> are you going too filibuster this? >> i will do whatever it takes to stop it. whether or not i'm allowed to filibuster there's another question. there's a paper filibuster you can do demanding there's 60 vote objecting, not giving them content to proceed. i will do a formal filibuster. whether that means i can go to the floor some depends on what happened. i will filibuster the patriot act and do everything i can to try to adhere to the courts. the courts have said the bulk collection of records is illegal. they should stop immediately. >> are you with limbhim on that. >> i voted against the patriot act and the authorization of the patriateeriot act and concerned about

this issue. republican -- >> sounds like you and rand paul on this one issue are basically in agreement. >> sometimes you have strange bed fellows. >> where does hillary clinton stand as far as you know on the issue? >> i don't know. i believe she voted for the usa patriot act. >> potentially another area where you and hillary clinton disagree. >> yes. but here's the issue. the issue is all of us agree you have to be vigorous in fighting terrorism, do everything we can. but i hope the american people understand we don't have to sacrifice all of our liberties and our privacy rights to do that. i do not want to see the constitution of the united states undermined and i feel very much that's going on. by the way not just by the government you have a lot of private sector stuff which knows everything about your life. you know where you eat, what books you read where you go where you are, that scares me too. we need a conversation in this country about how we protect privacy rights. >> senator sanders, thank for coming in. see you on the campaign sflil okay. >> still ahead, u.s. officials

say a senior isis figure was killed over the weekend during a raid in syria. why is there a heated debate right now over his importance. stay with us.

u.s. official described him as a tunisian a key money man for isis but still questions over the importance of the commander known as abu sayyaf killed over the weekend during a raid in eastern syria. this graphic from the rand corporation published in the

"new york times" gives you a sense of how isis makes money. most of the terror group's funds come from extortion or taxes, smaller portion from the sale of oil and kidnapping for ransom operations. let's discuss this and more the impact of abu sayyaf's death, the impact joining us our security analyst and our cnn contributor the co-author of the book "isis inside the army of terror" michael weis. juliette you wrote an excellent article on cnn.com saying the death of abu sayyaf represents in your words a good kill. tell us why? >> well look i think everyone agrees no single death is going to end isis. they are so flatlined and think about succession plans so we shouldn't say it's done now that we got him. everyone knows that. an important aspect of how the white house disclosed information or actually more specifically the department of defense was to make it clear to isis that we have intelligence agents or we have people close

to them who are disclosing the whereabouts of mid-level leaders or high leaders. i think part of what happened this weekend was that administration wanted to sort of mess with isis' head and we call that propaganda saying we're in there, we are getting intelligence from your own people and the goal of that is to make them all so paranoid they actually either go after each other or begin to focus on themselves. it's an old cold war intelligence tactic and i think it's part of what happened this weekend. >> what's your assessment michael? >> i agree with everything julie said but a bit of stature inflation for abu sayyaf. the idea he he was the chief financial officer of isis i wrote a book on these guys most of the analysts that study isis a lot of people inside isis either hadn't heard of him or heard of him but thought of him as a marginal or mid-level commander. the minister of the minister of finance is called abu salah.

if he's the minister of finance, how does this guy become the cfo? i think the act pekt to focus on apart -- aspect to focus on apart from the idea of black population, that's how we have to play it against isis because they played against us in a direct fashion. the real value, i'm told and it's been reported by abc news as well as my colleague at "the daily beast," this guy played an integral role in the capture of hostages particularly kayla mueller, confirmed killed by isis. there's an emotional payback element of this too. the president authorized this mission. he wanted to capture abu sayyaf alive, bring him back to the united states and probably have him stand trial, sort of a public reckoning with the fact that these guys have gone after american civilians. it's an important step in this coalition effort. raids against the mid-level target that result in the collection and confiscation of silence that lead to higher

targets, we did this in iraq imnew mexicoim-- in iraq innumerable times. and in syria, a guy responsible for running jihadis into iraq from syria to kill soldiers. i've had credible information that wasn't the only time a special operations force went into syria before the syrian revolution kicked off in 2011. the idea is this might inaugurate further raids in syria and iraq by u.s. forces for exactly this purpose of diskomcombobulating the isis senior command. >> and we know abu sayyaf's real name. is that a big deal new his identity has been revealed? >> it is just for intelligence purposes and for even sort of more traditional law enforcement purposes. just simply having the accurate name if it is the accurate name

is -- all investigations are you have the bulls eye, concentric rings around the people affiliated him. people that may have known him. people that may have worked with him. to simply just get what we might call intelligence atmospherics about him. that is particularly true for his wife who is alive. we had the same issue with the bin laden wives. what do you do the wives? some are more culpable than others. they're all more guilty. what you'll see is intensive interrogation, a return to her native country and probably not hear from her much. we do not want to make her any sort of martyr or vic ortim or kidnapping victim. let them go away. >> and he identifies himself as el tunisi. >> tunisian is the one -- tunisia ashe is the one country

that pop late the foreign fighters that mid levels comes from. that doesn't surprise me. most of the people in the senior command typically from iraq. as you pointed out in the prior block, a lot of them have backgrounds in saddam hussein's bathist regime. this guy didn't obviously. >> michael, juliet. thank you very much. thieves in london pulled off a $3 hundred million heist. police have made arrests. we'll tell you what has happened. big day? ah, the usual. moved some new cars. hauled a bunch of steel. kept the supermarket shelves stocked. made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. what's up for the next shift? ah, nothing much. just keeping the lights on. (laugh) nice. doing the big things that move an economy. see you tomorrow, mac. see you tomorrow, sam. just another day at norfolk southern.

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a "washington post" journalist jailed for nearly ten months in iran is final getting his first day in court. he will appear in the revolution court as it's called one week from today charged with espionage, collaborating with a hostile government. another charge and spreading propaganda again iran. the state department here in

washington calls the charges absurd. his wife also ute on bail now being called to appear in court next tuesday to testify. it's one of the biggest and most daring robberies in years. thieves in london's jewelry district broke into a vault over easter weekend and raided 56 safe-deposit boxes. unofficial estimates puts the value at more than $300 million. now british police have made several arrests in connection with the case. fred pleitgen is joining us from london right now. tell us more about these arrests. >> reporter: absolutely. it's among the many remarkable things about this big heist that happened. on the one hand, there's the loot which, as you say, was estimated around $300 million. jewels gems cash, all sort of things. the way they did it and now also the range of suspects that the police has said that they have in custody. we got word a couple of minutes they have nine people in custody.

the interesting thing is the age range of those who were allegedly involved in all of this. the oldest being 76 years old. there's apparently one individual who's 74 years old and one who's 67 years old. the youngest one is apparently 43 years old. now the police have not come out with any names for the suspects. they simply put letter in front of them abdnd the age. they say self premises were raided and stuff recovered. they're waiting to see whether or not it was part of the heist that happened here. of course it was something that was bold. if you recall easter weekend, this place was broken into in an elevator shaft. the thieves drilled through a wall and got to the safe-deposit boxes and had days to raid them. they left a lot of power tools

behind. certainly it seems as though there might be some light into that you will. the police for its part is saying it worked relentless three find the people behind this -- relentlessly to find the people behind this. to find the loot. many people affected. it is a remarkable case. >> are they giving any indications how they got a breakthrough in this case? they did receive enormous publicity at the time. >> reporter: it certainly did. they haven't yet said what exactly led them to the people that they believed are the suspects. the information there is limited. certainly it was something where when all of this happened, people believed that those behind this must be experts. there were a lot of analysts coming out saying that they believe that perhaps the loot would leave the country as fast as possible. simply because it is so much and so high profile. this is not just money, it's gems things that are difficult to hide. at this point they have not given any indication as to how they managed to find these individuals. wolf? >> fascinating story.

thank very much. that's it for me. i'll be back at 5:00 p.m. for "the situation room." "amanpour is next." for viewers in north america "newsroom with brooke baldwin" starts right now. here we go, top of the hour, i'm brooke baldwin. we begin in waco, texas. police say the threats against them by bikers have toned down. today they say they're still keeping their guard up two days after this bloodbath in this parking lot that left nine bikers dead, 18 injured, and 170 people accused gang members, charged. >> there have been credible, reliable threats against law enforcement if our area. those have toned down a bit the last 24 hours.