tv The Situation Room CNN May 25, 2015 2:00pm-4:01pm PDT
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him. >> reporter: and meara and her husband said luck is the secret to success. >> what is the one thing that worked? in our marriage? >> i had you. >> you had me? >> lucky to have one another. that's it for "the lead." i'm john berman filling in for jake tapper. now to brianna keilar in "the situation room." a flight bound for new york escorted by u.s. warplanes. cnn learned threats to as many as ten other airlines. hoop is behind these. and setting off a firestorm with remarks about iraqi forces in an exclusive interview with cnn. now iraq and the white house are responding. can iraqi soldiers take on isis? deadly flooding. at least a dozen people are missing after record storms sweep across parts of the u.s. killing at least three people. will there be even more severe weather today?
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primged elite. krn-of- privileged elite. reserved for north korean favor by kim jong-un. why is much of the rest of the country struggling just to survive? wolf blitzer is off. i'm brianna keilar. you're in "the situation room." breaking now an fbi investigation into threats against multiple airliners, one prompting the u.s. military to scramble fighter jets into new york's kennedy airport. and u.s. defense secretary ash carter setting off a huge controversy after telling cnn in an exclusive interview iraqi troops showed no will to fight against isis forces that overran the city of ramadi. we're covering all of that and more this hour with our guests including republican congressman peter king. he's a member of both the homeland security and
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intelligence committees and our correspondents are with us as well from key locations. i want to begin with cnn's tom foreman with new information about the airline threat that send u.s. air force jets scrambling. >> reporter: authorities think maybe one, one person may have triggered all of this concern about airplanes this morning with calls of anonymous threat. started with an air france jet from paris. a report that there were chemical weapons onboard. and immediately, air traffic control reached out to this plane and said is anybody sick onboard? anything wrong up there? told no problem, but nonetheless, two f 16 fighter jets went out over the atlantic and escorted this plane in to land at jfk airport where fbi agents went onboard and searched the plane thoroughly concluded nothing was wrong even though they held passengers two hours. simultaneously threats coming in
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against other flights, at least ten landing at newark and at buffalo and atlanta and maybe other airports as well. all a little murky because all of the threats are coming in and in the strangest ways. the first one went to the maryland state police but nonetheless, authorities responded to all of these threats out there and so far they haven't found anything brianna, although it threatened to disrupt a lot of air travel on this very busy weekend. >> you have also been looking into a suspicious pressure cooker that law enforcement found yesterday on the national mall. what have we learned about that? >> reporter: that set it all up. the national mall is absolutely packed on memorial day with lots of people here for a free concert, to visit memorials, go to arlington cemetery, that sort of thing on the other side of the river. they found a car left parked near the capitol on the left front. seemed suspicious. officers said a smell of gasoline to it. looked in the back saw a propane tank and pressure cooker. the bomb squad called in pulled the pressure cooker out and blew
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it apart and only then determined there was really nothing harmful involved here. they did find the driver eventually charged with operating without a license, but there did not seem to be a real threat here. you can see what's happening here amid the threats and problem wes have had, authorities say they just have to take everything seriously, even if this morning they find out it was one person making a bunch of what would be essentially prank phone calls. threatening airlines flying in from europe. brianna? >> tom, thanks for your report. now the explosive comments about iraqi troops by defense secretary ash carter who made them in an exclusive interview with cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr. barbara what did the secretary of defense tell you? >> reporter: hi brianna. a piece of remark candor. take viewers behind the scenes because i asked the secretary one basic question -- what did he think about what had happened in ramadi and how the iraqi troops fought? listen to what he had to say. >> the iraqi forces just showed
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no will to fight. they were not outnumbered. in fact they vastly outnumbered the opposing force. and yet they failed to fight. they withdrew from the site, and that says to me, and i think to most of us that we have an issue with the will of the iraqis. >> reporter: now he is talking, really centering his comments, on the fall of ramadi and rapforces up and left even know not outnumbered by isis fighters. a lot of concern about all of this. a lot of controversy. i think the most telling thing, nobody is countering what the secretary said. brianna? >> very telling. tell us a little about what we're hearing from iraqi officials, and also from the obama administration? sounds like they're not disagreeing with the president's defense secretary.
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>> reporter: first ump,p, extraordinary. one of carter'sal lies sunni deputy prime minister is also disappointed in the performance of the iraqi troops. the white house coming out finally and days later saying that you know, carter was only talking about ramadi. we know carter was only talking about ramadi. that's what we asked him about. but i have to tell you, officials here at the pentagon are actually rounding out some of this. offering additional contacts. why did it all fall apart in ramadi? appears the troops hadn't been paid hadn't been home to see their families. they were exhausted, and perhaps most telling, many of these troops expressing a loss of confidence in their iraqi commanders. all of that adding up to very serious situation. if the u.s. wants to patter in and continue to partner with theaticy commander, government and forces there has to be a
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professional military there to partner with and those iraqi commanders in the view of the pentagon are responsible for stepping up and making that happen. brianna? >> leadership is so important. barbara starr, thank you so much for that report. and we are getting some graphic new video of that bloody battle for ramadi. we want to warn you that some people may find it disturbing. here's cnn's senior international correspondent arwa damon. >> reporter: brianne narcs the fall -- brianna, this raised a lot of questions and stirred up debated. a soldier brigade among the last to retreat. his narrative and videos provided give us insight into what went wrong. the chaotic final moments captured on a cell phone. [ speaking in foreign language ] [ gunfire ] >> reporter: come on, fight! a voice shouts. this one of the last firefights
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with isis, before ramadi fell. a body is seen in the dirt behind one of the berms used for cover. the man who gave us the video was one of the soldiers there, wounded in that final battle. [ speaking in foreign language ] there were three ieds ta took out two humvees and killed five. then they came at us with two bulldozers rigged with explosives he remembers. his contingent numbered around 140. spread out in smaller units, along the vast terrain west of ramadi. and the city was in this armor personnel carrier, reloading ammunition. one soldier calls for a heavier weapon. a warning that isis is approaching from another direction as well. then they came at us with big gun trucks surrounding us from four directions. should have been a force to our rear but they weren't there, he says.
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his commander radios for air support. moments later, cries of no ammunition! no ammunition! and the urchtnit receives orders to withdraw. he is bitter and angry. the wounded, he wanted to keep fighting. just two weeks before the fall of ramadi he says his unit captured an isis position. killing six, he claims. two corpses seen torched in this video. another seven he says were detained. four of them foreigners. under interrogation, a captured isis fighter described their surveillance and bold tactics. [ speaking in foreign language ] he recalled the fighter saying, he flashed a light at the tower. we know there are only 28 soldiers and a five-hour rotations and a lack of ammunition. if the soldiers don't fire at us then we crawl and plant the bomb.
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bristling at the akccusation the iraqi soldiers don't have the will to fight. he wants to quit the army and join the militias. the failure is with the military higher ups, he says who gave the orders to retreat, and allowed supply lines to fail and front lines to collapse. brianna, the iraqi government has said it is investigating how it was those orders were issued but as of now has yet to come up with a viable or satisfy answer. >> arwa damon in baghdad. all of this more with peter king member of the house homeland security committee and also the intelligence committee. he has a lot of insight on this and i want to definitely ask you about the iraqi fight against isis congressman, but first let's talk about these multiple threats that have been phoned in regarding flights today. none of them have proven legitimate so far. but what do we think is behind
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this? are you getting a sense of that in briefings? >> yeah. first of all, there's no determination yet made as to what's behind it. obviously, it appears they all were hoaxes but having said that just last week there was isis twitter chatter, which basically was talking about the use of hoaxes. now, i'm not saying that isis is behind this but that certainly is something that has to be looked into or whether or not isis is talking about it sends out signals out to supporters here in the u.s. or around the world. basically the chatter was that these types of hoaxes can be almost as effective as an attack itself. because of the economic disruption it can cause, and also again, this may be secondary, but they may want to see how we react to these hoaxes and again that may factor into what they do in the future. but, again, i'm not saying there's evidence that it's isis but it is coincidental at least, that just last week isis was talking about, over twitter, the use of hoaxes as a way to
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disrupt our economy and just to cause chaos in the united states. >> is that something at this point that the u.s. is investigating, and if that's the case is there a way to ascertain that it could be an isis sympathizer? a way to identify who may be behind the threats? >> certainly i believe if -- that the fbi does have the capacity to determine if this was isis. and they may not -- definitely i think the capacity is there's they more than likely will be able to determine that but, again, i don't want to be sending any high bark for them. they will do all they can. if anyone can get it done it will be the fbi. >> any concerns be a the response or if for instance this was an area where isis sympathizers were testing out the u.s. response, do you feel that they might be dissuaded from an actual threat because of how the u.s. responded? do you want to see more? >> again, i think it's going to have to wait for an actual report. we're in the first few hours
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after this happened and going on sketchy reports. i think we'll have to look into exactly when the hoax calls came in when the communications came in. how quickly there was response. again, i would say that ever since 9/11 the response to these type threats has been extremely well coordinated. i'd be surprised if there was any gap. all of this has to be looked at carefully, because it could be the terror threat of the near future. these type of hoaxes, and making sure that we you know run them all down to make sure they are hoaxes and also what we do. if anything to prevent this. this can cause tremendous disruption if we have a multitude, these hoaxes coming in especially on a busy flying day such as memorial day. >> more on isis talking about the fight against the isis terrorists in iraq and syria with congressman peter king after a quick break.
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following a firestorm set because of pie secretary ash carter after comments made about iraqi troops in an exclusive interview with barbara starr. back with peter king to talk about that member of the house homeland security and intelligence committee. congressman, you heard from the defense second said. he told our barbara starr that the iraqis showed "no will to
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fight in ramadi" but he said that the u.s. is going to continue to train the iraqi military. we also heard in a report from iraqi soldiers that it's really their leadership. the iraqi military leadership that they're questioning. so what's the answer here? should the u.s. continue to train and is there really a point to it? can you instill in someone the will to win if they don't have it? >> well i agree with ash carter secretary carter that whoever's fault it is in iraq whether the leadership whether it's the troops on the ground or a combination, the facts fameiled miserably and that they ran, the bottom line they did run as general dempsey said. they weren't driven out, they drove out. there's no excuse. i'm sure there are individual acts ofeh heroism but it was a big
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failure. i'm not excusing iraqis but for our own self-interest, the u.s. should be doing more against isis and i agree with lindsey graham john mccain and others who said we should have more troops on the ground. not in a combat role per se obviously they'll be exposed to combat but spotters so the air attack is much more success. to have american troops embedded with iraqis to prevent situations like this from happening. i think this all began when we withdrew too early in 2011. that's behind us. we have to increase training but to make it tleefrtat least in the short run, we need more effective use of air power and that will require, i believe will require having more american troops on the ground. the number i've heard is 10,000. i'm not certain of that. i know tom cotton also supports
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that. the senator from arkansas and he's been in iraq. he's a combat veteran, but what's happening now our policy is failing. no doubt in my mind our policy is failing. we are not training the troops quickly enough. the troops are not showing significant improvement and the air attacks are not having meaningful impact on isis. >> i want to ask you about the nsa. highly critical. your colleague in the senate rand paul opposes the nsa data collection. a division of the patriot act looking at expiring in six days now. is this going to expire without congressional approval? >> we can't allow it to expire. the majority of both houses want the program to continue in one form or another. i support it being reauthorized as it is. i realize that's virtually impossible at this stage. either a brief extension or they should adopt a bill that the house passed. again, i didn't fully support that bill but i ended up voting
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for it because that was the only way to keep the program going. the nsa is essential. rather have it continue as-is, but at least under an amended, revised form that came out of the house. it's irresponsible and people like rand paul who, again, somehow make the nsa the villain when it's al qaeda, it's isis it's this whole array of islamist terrorists we're against, and somehow rand paul is consumed by the nsa. i've never met a more patriotic group of people than the men and women of the nsa and believe pull constitutional protections are in place now. the house little would increase those protections and there's no excuse for it to be abeallowed to elapse. least a 30-day extension to get it resolved. we can't be fiddling while rome is burningthat what's going to happen here. >> thank you for joining us. coming up deadly flooding and and ongoing search for people missing after record storms pound parts of texas.
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we're following the fbi investigation into a series of airliner threats. sources telling cnn as many as ten planes were threatened. this includes and air france flight escorted by fighter jets. digging deeper with former cia counterterrorism analyst and a cnn military analyst, and a retired army lieutenant colonel, a senior national security
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fellow at the new america foundation and andrew tapaler, the author of "in the lion's death: and eyewitness account of washington's battle with syria." phil your reaction some we heard, that about a week ago there was chatter coming from isis about how hoaxes for instance it appears these threats on airliners that thus far have proven to not actually be real that hoaxes can be just as damaging as an actual attack and so he's wondering if there might be some sort of connection and he says that's something that may be investigated. what do you think? >> there's a chance isis looks out and says hey, let's watch what's happening today with airliners. remember if they're thinking of going down the lens of hoaxes they have to worry about actual operations. if it turns out to be about isis affiliate, a better chance
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somebody in a city says, i like icie want to affect america, also saudi arabia one airliner threatened air france might be someone who wants to support isis as opposed to the group itself. i think they want to conduct operations not just threaten operations. >> you heard from the defense secretary told our barbara starr. he says iraqis showed no will to fight in ramadi. they outnumbered isis fighters, and yet they retreated. i wonder if you're talking about -- we've heard from u.s. officials that they need to have this will to fight, but lewhow do you inspire that in fighters if they just don't have it? is it possible? >> it's a great question brianna. you're? ing me to give the secret of any good army consists of three simple things. teamwork, training and trust. you have to understand you're part of the a team. you have to depend on the people on your left and right, train continually and be prepared for
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anything that might happen before it actually does happen. you never want to experience something in combat before you've experienced it in training and the most important element of leadership is trust. you've got to trust your fellow soldiers. the film you showed earlier, there's trust between the soldier on the front line. do they have the same trust in their leaders? that seems to be missing a little in ramadi and do they have the trust in their government? that's generated by things like being paid. being cared for. knowing you're part of an organization that's defending the country as oppose the to defending a sectarian regime. three simple thing. teamwork training and trust. >> and doug, you heard that in some of our reports. iraqi soldiers that hadn't been paid. they don't really trust their leaders. we're hearing from from the ground there in baghdad from troops who have come back and you have isis a lot of cohesion believe in their mission. how do you confront something like that with iraqi troops? >> well i think we need to do
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buildsing. in some ways the secretary's comments are overstated. the troops in raadmadi were holding the city for more than a year and a half. wave upon wave a serious car bombs, makes it dubious any military force would hold up to that air power. in that way they performed as many army would. that said real problems with leadership and pay and we need to get those fixed. >> as you see the assad regime and assad's forces taking on isis in syria, andrew are they facing serious problems in the will to fight, or is there a greater will to fight against isis? >> absolutely. the problem we have with the assad regime is lack of capacity. it's partly due to lack of rigidity in the system. in iraq a hope to change the system. change the prime minister. in assad, syria, bashar assad
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the leader forever. unless you change the politics hard to get the military on the ground. >> thank you to all of you on this. breaking news coming into "the situation room." next state of emergency. devastating floods. you can see the pictures hitting dozens of texas counties. washing cars right off of roads. hundreds of homes off their foundations. and, later -- while millions of north koreans star a lucky few guess perks. you have to see it to believe it. making a fist something we do to show resolve. to defend ourselves. to declare victory. so cvs health provides expert support and vital medicines. at our infusion centers or in patients homes. we help them fight the good fight. cvs health, because health is everything.
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we're following breaking news in texas. at least a dozen people are missing in flooding that caused was caused by unrelenting storms. just now officials said search prangss s praxs suspended but rescue boats standing by. two bridges and at least 400 homes washed away in heyays county near austin. the flood caught drivers quite by surprise. [ bleep ]! oh my god! stop stop stop! he fleeds to get out!
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>> oh jesus. >> we're told the man in this suv did manage to get out safely. floods and rains bloomed for four deaths and more rain in the forecast. ed lavandera, give us the latest and tell us about the search for the missing. >> reporter: a great deal of concern. it was a group of families that had come up to this area here in the town of wimberley, texas, to spend memorial day. and what we're gathering is that some of these families might have been washed away in one of the river homes that they were renting and hanging out in for the weekend. so that is of great concern and as you mentioned, those search and rescue operations have been calmed off the rest of the day because rain continues to fall here in central texas, and very heavily at times. this is one of the lesser parts of the rainfall that we've seen throughout the day, but brianna, as you look here on this side the blanco river is just off here to our right, and you can see the force that these
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floodwaters came through this area. these -- i can't overestimate how large these trees are that have been broken apart and were slammed into the bridges. that's what washed out several of the bridges. as you look at the one bridge we are on here a better sense of what we're dealing with, and this is the blanco river here brianna, and the water came up over the water where we're standing and it's receded dramatically but at the rain continues to fall a great concern. this is what washes out the bridge. this is is a massive tree broken apart, splintered, all washed up against here. so you can see the blanco river down there and all of this rushing heavily downstream and one of the big concerns now, brianna, is that this with these rivers and waterways, heading out towards the gulf of mexico a great deal of distance and all of the water is heading downstream. not just central texas, but
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south, rivers cresting there as well as this river all heads south towards the gulf of mexico. you can see the intensity of the damage and all of the debris that was just taken downstream here in a dramatic force here in the middle of the night. many people rushed to safety as quickly as they could. >> ed lavandera watching things in texas. thanks. another breaking news story we're following. russia's news agency just announced an ominous new round of military exercise including 12,000 troops hundreds of airplanes, long-range bombers firing cruise missiles. the war games come amid new fears russian president vladimir putin may be planning new military aggression. other reports say putin, whose marriage broke up two years ago also may about new father. this is very intriguing. bring in cnn's brian todd with details on this. brian? >> reporter: from his personal life to moves he's making on the
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ukrainian border which are called outright dangerous. vladimir putin tonight is again playing a perilous chess game. one angering officials from the united states and nato and prompting them to send warnings of their own. two wounded men confessing on camera a video put out by the ukrainian security service, captured in ukraine and european monitors say they both admitted to being russian soldiers. they told the monitors they were inside ukraine on reconnaissance not to fight, but they're not supposed to be there at all. and tonight, white house and nato officials tell cnn they're concerned vladimir putin and his army are vitolating their cease-fire agreement with ukraine, stockpiling weapons, getting ready for possible action. >> many of their actions are consistent with preparations for another offensive. >> reporter: ukraine the president claims putin bolstered
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russian troop numbers at the border to 50,000. the separatist have an 4,000 inside ukraine. significant fighting reported by monitors. why would putin be fueling this? >> approval ratings went through the roof as soon as russia an nixed crimea and haven't gone down since. it's totalitarian level approval ratings and he is addicted to them. >> reporter: analysted say putin believes he can do anything he wants in ukraine, but he's treading on dangerous ground. >> there could be a serious miscalculation where putin may actually think there is much more lesleyhood of us taking action to things he is doing. a great deal of signaling going on in the united states and europe and nato, particularly statements by the general and others that if you keep pushing we will take action. >> reporter: the russians continue to deny any plans for military action. with all eyes on putin's next strategic moves, rumors also
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circulate about his personal life. recently his assumed girlfriend appeared in public the former gymnast wore a loose-fitting red dress. social media is buzzing with comments about her possible weight gain and rumors that she recently gave birth have been rekindled. >> presented with a tone like an image a lot of russian men like to aspire to. >> reporter: the kremlin hall never confirmaled she gave birth and consistently dismissed talk of a romance between her and vladimir putin but analysts say one reezing putin and his inner circle might not mind the speculation is because it distracts russians from some of russia's real problems. brianna? >> and he did disappear a short time ago for a little while. right, brian? maybe it was paternity leave? >> reporter: a lot of speculation on that. he vanished from public view in early march for several days. there were reports that he was with alina and she gave birth to
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a baby girl there. again, neither the kremlin nor putin or his girlfriend confirmed nor denied these reports, but not complaining loudly about them at the same time. >> oh what they don't say is important. brian todd thank you. coming up genuine laughter in north korea. next a rare and exclusive look at the lives of the north korean elite. if you're among the favorite few, you even get, yes, dolphin shows. i have moderate to severe crohn's disease. it's tough, but i've managed. but managing my symptoms was all i was doing. so when i finally told my doctor, he said humira is for adults like me who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. and that in clinical studies the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief. and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers including lymphoma, have happened;
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tonight a rare look at the good life in north korea. it is enjoyed by the favorite elite of kim jong-un's regime while an estimated million people half the country's pop population go hungry. we have an exclusive report. >> reporter: the north korean it's took us here to show us their dolphins but the audience really got our attention. [ speaking in foreign language ] language ]. >> reporter: this is the kind of unspoken emotion you rarely see in north korea. ♪ government propaganda shows over the top adulation for the supreme leader but these smiles, these belly laughs are real. especially when our cnn photojournalist is pulled
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this dolphin area showing all the perks for pyongyang's elite. their lives drastically different from millions of north koreans were not allowed to see, living in poor, raurl areas, tending fields by hand. experts say as many as half the population hungry. but when it wants to north korea and its young lead erer will spend millions on vanity projects, building extravagant amenities like this horse riding club. no expense spared in this brand-new orphanage. kids get regular visits from kim yong un a man they call father but the orphanage is half empty. most north koreans in the cap tal live in drab housing blocks assigned by the government. we're shown only the newest best neighborhoods, like these apartments for elite north korean scientists.
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they even have their own vacation resort. the government prepared to spend lavishly to reward key personnel. that's you right there. more special perks for those who train the elite, senior professors at pyongyang's prestigious university get these free luxury apartments. how does this compare to some of your friends and family members' homes? >> translator: this is much better. >> reporter: but even the best homes need solar panels backup power during regular outages. we also visit the supreme leader's lavish new the water park a gift for his people featuring a life-sized statue of his late father that must be revered like an artifact. anyone who enters first pays their respect to the late leader kim jong il who died. >> translator: i want more foreigners to come here because
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i want them to be captivated by the great leader kim jong un. >> reporter: these luxuries you'll only find in home to the most trusted, loyal citizens proudly displayed as symbols of national greatness as millions of people struggle kept hidden from the world. will rippley, cnn, pyongyang, north korea. tonight a group of prominent women from around the world are safely arriving home after completing a daring and potentially risky demonstration for peace. they walked across the demilitarized zone between north and south korea. and joining us now on the phone from san francisco is filmmaker gaye dillingham who was with the peace walkers. i know you just landed a short time ago. your group, we see them crossing the border of north korea and south korea sunday. tell us about the walk. >> well brianna, it was quite a remarkable thing to witness. every emotion possible as you can well imagine and quite
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difficult tonight. i was impressed with all of these women i had the honor of being with. we negotiated pretty much every step of the way from where to cross, how to cross between the north koreans, the united nations command. diplomacy is what's needed now. after 70 years of a stalemate. i heard your lead-in and i do agree that the people are suffering. it's always dangerous to have the 1% really having it all or having the majority of the resources. there's a huge imbalance both within the country resources. we went from within miles from watching people carrying buckets to hand water their plants in just over having heated toilets in seoul. so there is dra thematic imbalance. the human rights we know the human rights abuses are
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happening. the u.n. has report eded on it. that's not why we were there. we were there to engage. engagement is the only way to solve these issues. >> we see in many of the pictures, we he see gloria steinham trying to bring awareness to this. you talk about citizen diplomacy engaging. what was your goal? i'm assuming this is just part of the process, but do you think that you -- what do you think you accomplished? >> well what we accomplished we physically went to north korea. we met with hundreds of women, 200 women in a peace symposium all day long. yes, they were all groups in north korea are government created. these women, all women, we heard and shared information. we told stories. one such moment was a woman who
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lost both hands during a are war, the korean war, our war -- they call it the forgotten war. and she lost both hands, unfortunately, cut off. and at one moment tfs very emotional. it was very emotional. this woman comes over with her sleeve and wipes tears from her eyes. there is nothing that will ever compare to being in the same room and listening to each other. and i know this word north korean sympathizers but i don't want that to be a dirty word. i think it's empathizing and, yes, we were there to empathize. we were there to empathize with the north, we were there to empathize with the south, we were there to empathize with all buildings and build these bridges because 70 years it's not worked. and militaries are not designed to build peace. the unu.s. army said the only
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way to prevent a catastrophic confrontation with north korea is to get to a peace treaty and guarantee a certain security for them in exchange -- >> gay, i'm afraid i'll have to leave it there with you. i'm sure we'll continue this conversation again in the future. thank you so much. >> okay. in exchange for giving up their weapons. >> in exchange for giving up their weapons, thank you, gay, so much. coming up, new details of threats against as many as ten passenger planes, one of them escorted by fighter jets to new york's kennedy airport. we're learning new details.
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happening now, flights threatened. we're getting new information about why u.s. fighter jets scrambled to escort a plane heading to new york. are airline passengers at risk on this holiday? isis blame game. who's responsible for the fall of a key iraqi city? defense secretary ashton carter makes a powerful accusation in an exclusive cnn interview, and he unleashes a firestorm. police are scrambling to find possible accomplices in the gruesome slaughter inside a washington, d.c., mansion. tonight growing questions about the family's assistant. and swept away cars homes, lives lost in record setting rains and devastating flooding. are crews giving up the search? we want to welcome our viewers in the united states. wolf blitzer is off today. i'm brianna keilar.
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you're in "the situation room." there are escalating fears hours after a bomb scare near a crowded concert at the u.s. capitol. f-15 fighter jets directed to an air france flight. cnn has learned that law enforcement officials have been investigating ten threats against airline ersrs. also breaking, iraqi forces say they're standing by for zero hour to go into ramadi and fight isis terrorists who have seized and ravaged the city. cnn has powerful new video of ramadi's fall as the war of words plays out over who is to blame for the defeat. defense secretary ashton carter telling cnn in an exclusive interview the iraqis, quote, showed no will to fight. first we go to cnn's tom foreman. he has more on the security threats. >> reporter: brianna, two air
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force f-15s raced out over the atlantic to interception an international flight today, making sure it stayed under their guard right up until it touched down in new york amid a good many jitters on this busy, busy holiday weekend. air france flight 22 from paris was escorted in by u.s. fighter jets after authorities say an anonymous caller threatened the plane. port authority police radioed the pilot. >> do you have anyone ill or sick on the aircraft? >> no, no. nobody sick. >> you haven't had anyone sick during the flight correct? >> correct. >> reporter: at new york's jfk airport passengers were held for two hours as fbi agents searched the plane and found nothing issuing a statement saying the plane has been cleared. this passenger said for the longest time he had no idea there was a problem. >> when we landed and when he they stopped us, this is when we know that something is wrong. >> reporter: there were other
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scares in the air, too. >> united 63 -- >> reporter: this was another threatened flight coming into newark from spain. authorities say they received threats against multiple flights and security scrambled to deal with some planes coming from europe and the middle east, landing in numerous american cities including new york, new jersey, buffalo, and atlanta. yet searches have so far turned up nothing. still, it was enough to rattle nerves with more than 37 million americans traveling over this holiday weekend, a ten-year record according to aaa. in washington, d.c., amid huge crowds police grew woreried over the weekend about a suspicious car parked near the capitol. they said it smelled of gasoline and contained a propane tank and pressure cooker. with you but once the bomb squad destroyed the cooker investigators determined it was never intended to do any harm. authorities don't really know for sure but they're investigating the possibility that all of these threats to the planes may have come from a
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single person maybe more than one, but possibly one person possibly upsetting travel for so many millions of people brianna. >> oh, so inconvenient on a day like today. tom foreman, thank you so much. now to the war against isis and tough new comments by defense secretary ashton carter say that go iraqi forces showed no will to fight, to hold on to the key city of ramadi. our pentagon correspondent barbara starr conducted that exclusive interview. she joins us now. strong reaction to this all around the world, right? >> reporter: it is gettinging a lot of attention, brianna. and suddenly one of ash carter's backers is the prime minister in iraq a sunni, obviously a member of the opposition coming out today saying that he thought the army did not perform very well in ramadi. whatever did or did not happen in ramadi all of this setting off global controversy. a chaotic firefight just before
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ramadi fell. filmed on a cell phone by an iraqi soldier. the strategic city now in the hands of isis and the u.s. defense secretary not mincing words. in an exclusive interview with cnn. >> what apparently happened was that the iraqi forces just showed no will to fight. they were not outnumbered. in fact, they vastly outnumbered the opposing force and yet they failed to fight. they with spdrew from the site. >> reporter: a comment that set off its own firestorm. vice president joe biden called iraqi prime minister al abadi pledging more training and equipment, countering the defense secretary. in a white house statement saying the vice president recognized the enormous sacrifice and bravery of iraqi forces over the past 18 months in ramadi and elsewhere.
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abadi hit back in a bbc interview. >> i'm surprised he said that. he was very supportive of iraq. i'm sure he was fed the wrong information. >> reporter: and the head of iran's elite qods force saying it was the u.s. that quote, has no will to fight isis. iraqi forces along with sunni tribal fighters and shia militias many backed by iran launched a counter offensive east of ramadi. the blame game aside, the situation remains dire. nearly 55,000 people have fled ramadi since isis captured it. and in the ancient city of palmyra, they have executed more than 200 people in the last ten days according to a human rights group. u.s. air strikes inside syria and iraq will continue but will never be enough carter told cnn. >> air strikes are effective but
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neither they nor anything we do can substitute for the iraqi forces' will to fight. they're the ones who have to beat isil and then keep them beaten. >> reporter: now, look carter chose his words very carefully. top commanders here at the pentagon have received information on what happened in ramadi. they're well aware of the assessment on the ground there. there is more to it than that. why did this happen? why did the iraqi forces not fight? some of the factors involved they hadn't been paid in a long time. they hadn't been home to see their familiar possibly in weeks. some of them exhausted, running out of ammunition and one of the big problems that's emerging in the view of the u.s. is the iraqi military leadership that they simply are not up to par, that these iraqi military leaders in the view of many at the pentagon need to do a much
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better job taking care of their rank and file. brianna? >> and the soldiers telling our arwa damon they feel the same way. barbara starr, thank you so much for that report. great interview. and tonight the federal government is just one week away from losing significant weapons in the war against terrorism. that is what some supporters say of the controversial spying program under the patriot act which is due to expire. there's been a dramatic new move in the senate to block the measures from being extended. our white house correspondent mi michelle kosinski is following that story for us. michelle what's going on? >> reporter: at the heart of this is a real battle now over national security in the face of today's threats versus personal freedom from large-scale is your surveillance and republicans now saying more than ever he we need the patriot act to continue intact allow the government to collect this data that most of the time isn't even ever accessed but, were, there is politics at play here. i mean to see rand paul
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stunningly thwart his own party from extending that authority even for a day. on this memorial day the president honoring those fallen in battle. while overseas isis gains ground. here in washington new questions about how to keep america safe with just six days before parts of the patriot act are set to expire. >> this is a high-threat period and we know what's going on overseas. we know what's been tried here at home. my colleagues do we really want this law to expire? >> reporter: many arguing through the night this weekend that specifically the bulk collection of americans' phone data that started after september 11 is still necessary, should continue but in a move that shocked even had his own
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party, here is republican presidential contender rand paul fighting its renewal in every attempt and refusing to budge. >> this is a debate about whether or not a warrant with a single name of a single company can be used to collect all the records, all of the phone records of all of the people in our country with a single warrant. our forefathers would be aghast. >> reporter: that opinion met with an eye roll from a senate colleague and soon to be republican presidential candidate lindsey graham. opponents of bulk phone data collection say it's not even necessary that the government can and should just get a warrant for specific information when they need it. the white house agrees but it's not only the phone data issue that will expire june 1. the government also won't be able to as easily gather business records, conduct roving wire taps when a person keeps switching cell phones or keep close tabs on potential lone wolves who are not necessarily linked to an identified it
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terror group. to prevent these things from expiring the senate has to vote. what they could do is just pass this thing called a usa freedom act that did already pass in the house with big bipartisan support. and that bill would take the data collection out of the hands of the government. they would need warrants to access it. the white house support ss it. but so far the senate hasn't brought it up for a vote. so what they will do is come back on sunday and try to tackle this issue. but that's one day before these elements of the patriot act expire. brianna? >> reporter: they sure do like to cut it close. >> down to the wire. >> they sure do that a lot. >> reporter: surprise surprise. >> i want to bring in cnn national security analyst, cnn military analyst, and we have cnn counterterrorism analyst philip mudd. phil i want to ask you about the threats we've heard about, these airplanes. on these airplanes today, turned out ultimately to not really be anything. of course it diverted a lot of resources including a couple
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fighter jets that were scrambled. i heard from congressman peter king and he said about a week ago there was chatter coming from isis that said you know hoaxes in some cases are as bad as tall aattacks. >> i can imagine where someone says i'm an isis sympathizer, i'd like to do that. to have an isis-managed operation where they say we want to start running hoaxes in the united states and elsewhere to me with would be a bit surprising because you have to remember the group is not just about shutting down airlines. it's about showing potential rae kreutz recruits that it is the big one. >> general, let's talk about iraq. we heard from the defense secretary ash carter. he told barbara starr that the iraqis showed no will to fight in ramadi. this set off a firestorm. how do you get people to have the will to fight, or is it just
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a matter of, at this point iraqi forces not protecting sunni areas? >> i would like to interpret, i think in my view, what mr. carter said. he was talking about the government of iraq the will to go after this in a consolidated and coordinated way. i'll tell you i've had the opportunity to fight with and to train with iraqi soldiers. they are extremely brave. they will do the things our leaders tell them to do. what we always saw problems with when i was there, sometimes the connection between the commanders on the ground and their government and their military leaders in baghdad wasn't always existing. and that caused a problem. and that's part of developing the will fighting for the country, soldiers fight inging for each other and fighting for a cause versus what they perceive as a government that's not behind them. that causes problems. >> peter, we were looking at video that was filmed by an
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iraqi soldier during the fall of ramadi. it was fascinating. this was right before they pulled back. he said that they were there. they were trying to fight and then there was no more ammunition. they were surrounded on all sides. they were supposed to be supported from the rear by are another unit and then they turned out not to be there. he came out of the fight, talked to our arwa damon and said the leadership is bad they're not having a good go of it. when you look at the problem here and it seems boiled down because of what the defense secretary said it's very complex, right, the different things going on here. >> yeah, i mean, i would add to that the cost of staying around when isis takes over the area you're in. we know what they are. they just killed 200 civilians. they've gone house to house in other cities that they've taken looking for people who work with the government who are asoes associated with the army. when you have leader shipship and the cost of remaining behind you recall the 1,500 soldiers who were executed early in the isis
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campaign. >> sure. >> that is the kind of fate that awaits you. that's a pretty bad combination. >> so isis is winning the psychological war is that right? >> i would say so. i mean just the proof is in the pudding. they've lost some. they lost tikrit. they got ramadi which is a bigger deal. >> and they were so outnumbered, isis was. we're not talking about the iraqi forces. they have the forces right? they've been trained. is the training good enough or the resources good enough because we hear the defense secretary saying we're going to expedite sending more resources. >> the way we typically have looked at time since the isis advanced last summer is through the lens of day ss are or weeks. if you look at time in classic insurgencies a decade or more. so for example we're talking about the fall of ramadi last week. now we're talking about militias going back and potentially retaking it over the course of the next few weeks. i think over the course of the next six, eight months isis made advances. i think the government was
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surprised. the military was surprised. they pushed back. they retook tikrit. so come back to me in about 2020 and maybe we'll have a better answer. over the course of days doesn't tell me yet that isis is going to win this one. >> i think we'll still be talking in 2020 about this. i'll take you up on that phil. thanks for being with us. and just ahead one suspect is charged with murder. who else might be accused of maying a role in the brutal killings of a prominent washington, d.c. family. we're learning some new details about that investigation. and the national foecus on police violence shifts to cleveland now after the acquittal of an officer that has unleashed new protests and arrests. is this another ferguson or perhaps baltimore? 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?
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tonight police are in washington on the hunt for more suspects in the miss tear yeah quadruple murder and arson at a prominent family's mansion and we're learning more about the investigation and also possible accomplices after the prime suspect was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. our justice correspondent pamela brown is digging on this story. what are you finding, pam? >> reporter: witness interviews are raising more suspects theat darren dil daron dylon wint was not acting
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alone. today d.c. police are hunting for more suspects who allegedly helped daron wint pull off the slayings of a family and their housekeeper. questions about who was in this video after the stolen porsche was torched. police saying in the court affidavit that a witness saw the pour porsche being driven erratically out of washington by someone with short well-groomed hair. a very different description from wint who appeared in court friday with medium length dreadlocks. >> it's a little difficult to believe one person could be responsible for that carnage. >> reporter: deepening the mystery, court documents showed the assistant changed his story several times when questioned by police altering details about how he dropped off the $40,000 at the mansion just hours before the house was tore pd. >> police are trained to notice inconsistencies in a story and at this early stage when a very important witness has some inconsistencies even in his initial interviews you'd better
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believe police will take a harder look at that person. >> reporter: accord inging to police the assistant changed his story about when his boss contacted him to pick up the money or details about the car he left the money in at the mansion and admitted he lied by not initially telling poelice the cash was in a red bag. police say the assistant texted an unidentified person a picture that have red bag with money inside. just four hours later the family's home went up in flames. and as for the five people the u.s. marshals say were arrested with wint including his brother, we are told by police they're no longer in custody but that does not mean they're off the hook. we're told the investigation into anyone who has been around wint recently. >> we have cnn law enforscement analyst tom fuentes and cedric alexander. we have former atm agent matthew
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horace. thank you for being with us. right now the forensics team is still looking for clues, right? what are they looking for? >> they're looking for any and everything that will link other suspects and the suspect to this crime t. it started with the fire. you have murder arson, assault, and they're going to run down these clues until we identify who was the co-conspirator to mr. wint. >> so all of these things would be what in the house, in the porsche, maybe in the vehicle that wint was in and the accompanying vehicle when he was pulled over. is that what we were expecting? >> all of that and more the arson of the vehicle, the theft of the vehicle, the evidence at the scene of the crime and then -- then -- you have the analysis of phone tolls, records. who did wint call before during and after the crime? and they're running those leads down. the atf with the arson, the very best arson investigators in the world, the u.s. marshals the fugitive hunt is on and
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washington metropolitan police department is shaking those ladies to get information to find out who was involved. >> who wasn't he calling because maybe he was with them. that might be a question as well. now there seems to be this focus on this assistant. he's changed his story when it comes to did he get the money in a manila envelope did he get it in a red bag? where did he leave the money? what time was the money -- what day was the mon y requested of him? was it the wednesday night before the murders or the thursday morning before the murders. when you see those inconsistencies do you think there's something fishy? >> absolutely brianna. in this case he's not just saying that well i was confused in the excitement, i misremembered. he's saying he lied. why why? why would he lie? why would he lie to the police about anything from the very beginning all the way through to the end. of course it's highly suspicious. >> okay but, cedric let me ask you this. this assistant has not been charged. this assistant has not been
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arrested. is this also the possibility of putting out some sort of trial balloon to see if it turns something up? >> i think one thing we have to keep in mind this is still early in this investigation. this is a very complex case very convoluted involving mr. wint and potentially others too. what we're going to determine in the days and weeks ahead, those that are involved and those that had any knowledge of this event prior to it takinging place, so i just think it's a matter of time as these investigators continue to dwell in this case. as matthew very well articulated, you have some of the best people in the country involved in this case from atf to local d.c. police there. >> what are police asking wint tom, as they try to figure out who else he was working with and what sort of reasoning does he have to comply with their questions? >> he doesn't have to answer any questions. >> is there any way to compel him to? >> no there isn't.
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>> there's nothing in his interest for him? >> i'm not saying that. i'm saying his attorney is probably going to tell him there's nothing in his interest to start talking at this point and to create a record of information that he can be cross-examined later on. he's not going to talk. >> cedric, you look at just the brutality of this murder. what does that tell you about whether this was personally motivated? we know wint had a can connection because of the company that he was a ceo of. that's where wint had worked. >> it will be interesting to know more about that relationship both past and present, but clearly something very brutal went on here. i mean, extremely brutal, and it's just not humane to treat people that way. and you're talking about a 10-year-old child that was brutalized before his death, and the same with his parents and the house keep are as well, too. we're talking about an individual in who just had no
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regard for human life whatsoever. >> and that's very much the case. when you look at this do you think, matthew, this is someone with a personal motivation who has committed this crime or are they just sick? or both. but is it possible they're just sick and there might not even be a motive? >> this could have been a crime of opportunity with him having worked for the deceased and the victims thinking that they had money to offer to his plea. it wasn't even a good plan. it was a horrible plan. it was a horrible crime. police are on his case and the others case. we would hope and expect to see law enforcement nail this down and identify other suspects very quickly. we're a long way from being over as tom said. >> you shudder to think of this crime and that's why so many people want to see what the resolution is here. thank you so much, matthew, cedric tom. thanks to all of you. and we'll be right back after a quick break. here at friskies, cats are in charge of approving every new recipe. because it's cats who know best what cats like to eat.
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up today, new friskies 7. we're trying seven cat-favorite flavors all in one dish. now for the moment of truth. yep, looks like it's time to share what our cats love with your cats. new friskies 7. for cats. by cats. at book club they were asking me what you're doing now, janice. blogging. your blog is just pictures of you in the mirror. it's called a fashion blog todd. well, i've been helping people save money with progressive's discounts. flo, can you get janice a job? [ laughs ] you should've stuck to softball! i was so much better at softball than janice, dad. where's your wife, todd? vacation. discounts like homeowners' multi-policy -- i got a discount on this ham. i've got the meat sweats. this is good ham, diane. paperless discounts -- give it a rest, flo. all: yeah, flo, give it a rest. lilly baker is preparing for college. she'll use that education to get a job.
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we have our law enforcement personnel standing by. first some protesters were back on the streets of cleveland, ohio after a weekend of angry demonstrations dozens of arrests. tensions are rising after the acquittal of a police officer accused of shooting two unarmed african-americans. is the situation easing or will the city erupt? our brian todd is following the story for us. >> reporter: looking at options moving forward. there are serious concerns tonight that after ferguson baltimore, south carolina and other high-profile cases of police violence all over just the past nine months that cleveland is the next flash point.
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>> reasonable excuse for those crimes. >> reporter: with those words a cleveland judge acquits police officer michael brelow touches off a round of protests where 71 people are arrested. and sparks concerns over what may happen next. >> my concern is there is a spike in violence. that there is a group that steals the discussion and it bends into violence and not a civil discussion about proper engagement between the police and community. >> reporter: he was found not guilty in the deaths of timothy russell and melissa williams, two unarmed african-americans. about a dozen police officers fired 137 shots into their vehicle in about eight seconds. authorities said bris low himself stood on the hood of the car and blasted 15 shots through the windshield. none of the other officers were even charged with manslaughter. >> the element of causation was
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not proved for both counts. >> reporter: the judge said he acquitted bre are llow because after a car chase he and the other officers had reason to believe they were at risk, even after all the shots police couldn't be sure the threat was over and that it couldn't be proven his shots were the ones that killed russell and williams. cleveland can't exhale just yet. a case of tamir rice was shot and killed by cleveland police in november while holding a pellet gun. the investigation is almost finish eded in the rice case. and protest leaders are looking for accountability. >> america is already experiencing unrest because police are killing us. >> reporter: the justice department found they used unnecessary and unreasonable force at a significant rate.
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it was acknowledged the cleveland police are under enormous pressure going forward. >> without question each and every future case that comes from cleveland particularly where you have a difference in the race of the person who is en encountered and the police, these situations can be expected to flair up again and bring more and more protests. >> reporter: and the cleveland police are still not out of the words in the case. the prosecutor says five police supervisors have been charged by dereliction of duty they will be charged for failing to control that dangerous car chase. >> i want to bring back tom fuentes and cedric alexander and matthew horace. so most people look at this tom, and they say it was over
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100 shots and then you had office the officer standing on the hood of the car. why was he standing on the hood of the car shooting at the car? >> if it was still posing a threat to the officers they rammed a couple of squads led them on 100-plus-mile-an-hour chase. it was still trying to maneuver around. so that's why the shots are being fired to try to stop the car from being a threat to everyone. and the purpose is officers are trained not to shoot at a windshield the safety glass, the shatterproof coatings make it hard. the idea of getting up high is to shoot directly into the windshield and then the bullets will penetrate for sure and not ricochet.
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in court the officer said he feared he was being shot at. there had been a backfire as the couple drove off. it was mistaken for gunfire. there were no weapons in the car, but he wasn't worried about the car moving. it seems you wouldn't jump on a car that wasn't moving. is this the way it should have gone down? >> it's the way that it did go down. when situations get that intense, there are likely to be a number of things to think a backfire of a are car, another loud noise, the state of mind of the person pulling the trigger. the objective reasonableness and how we exact physical force or deadly force and in this case this is what the officer felt.
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how we feel about it is inconsequential. the judge laid out how he viewed everything that happened during that day. >> just because a gun wasn't found when this was concluded, this went on for 100-mile-an-hour chase through the city. they could have toss the guns out the window. it doesn't mean that there weren't shots fired. >> later they determined it was a backfire. >> they're getting. you've you had a noise that sounded like gunfire as the car was driving down the street. other witnesses confirm that there was the sound of gunfire. when they find no guns they think must have been a backfire. >> cedric i want to ask you about baltimore because over the weekend 28 shootings, seven deaths. what do you make of these numbers? these are so high.
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>> first of all, let me be clear about something. in terms of the work that's been done by the commissioner is good work. not a mention whatsoever. everything falls back on the police. they've got other problems there that is really not police issues. you have a poor educational system. you have a great deal of poverty. you have broken families broken homes, a lot of social ills that could use wraparound services to help that community move forward. it is not the police department's fault because you have the number of shootings that are in there. they're doing all that they can and they have done some great things there in baltimore. getting rid of bad cops bringing in world class trainers for their police department. it is not at the fault of the police. we need to hold our police
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accountable. there are good things going on there with that leadership and that community. if i could just have another second just to talk about cleveland. >> you have about ten seconds. that's it. >> all right. thank you. without all of the speculation and suppositions of that case the problem that cleveland is having is that they have had a past history in practice in that community regardless of what happened right or wrong, of what had happened, right or wrong. they have a history of problems in which they're going to have to deal with. >> very very good point. we'll lead that as the final word. cedric, thank you so much. tom, matthew. just ahead a new flash flood emergency was just issued. we're going to tell how is at risk from the severe weather unfolding as we speak. ♪ every auto insurance policy has a number. but not every insurance company understands the life behind it. ♪ those who have served our nation
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breaking news tonight. a weather disaster that's unfolding right now. what you're looking at now is live pictures out of austin texas. you can see the skyline in the back and motorists are being rescued in these flash floods that are caused by the storms. that car on the right, there was just rescuers plucking a couple people from that car to safety in the midst of all of this rushing water. you have a flash flood emergency that was just issued for self-central texas. this is an area already soaked by record setting rains. at least three people have died. there are a dozen still missing. cnn is there with the latest on the search. have they been able to make any
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progress ed? >> reporter: they have not. they have suspended the search for those 12 people believed to have been swept away. you can see this area we're at right now was completely under water water. we would have been submerged by water here. you can see the blanco river there though it's dropped dramatically it is still a quick moving river which is what many officials and emergency officials around central texas are wore kr yid about tonight. >> oh, my god! stop, stop, stop. he needs to get out. >> reporter: one person was killed and nearly 400 homes washed away. the floodwaters cut a winding, destructive path through san marcos texas. 12 people are believed to be missing part of a family gathering for memorial day weekend at a river house. search and rescue teams are pushing through the debris along the river banks looking for the families which include small children. >> never it we in our wildest imagination think about the wall of water that would come down
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and do the destruction. it came down rather quickly and despite our efforts to inform the public and to warn people to evacuate and take prekaugscautions many people do not have time to do that. >> reporter: david and his daughter mary jane are cleaning up the damage left by that wall of water. they know they're lucky to be alive. they woke up to ankle deep floodwaters rushing into their home. by the time they woke everyone up and got out of the house it was already knee deep. >> animals went running everywhere. it was the scariest thing i've ever seen. i've never seen it so high the water. within a matter of two to three minutes the water was from ankles to your knees. >> reporter: they didn't have time to grab their dog oreo. when they came back to the house after floodwaters receded, they found oreo stuck in this tree but alive. >> we've taken care of each other, helping each other out. >> to anyone in harm's way over the entire state of texas over
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the coming days as we see ongoing that is the relentless wave of water. this wave of water can pose for people. >> as everything rages downstream you can see here breanna this is one of the homes swept away off of its foundation essentially. this is one of the bridges heavily damaged by the floodwaters as well. some of them were wiped out. but you can see these massive large trees just in the force, everything slamming downstream. that's what causes so much of the damage. and really, officials here as the rain continues to fall throughout parts of central texas. it's the quick rising waters. national weather service officials warning people to react quickly. many of the people we spoke with say it was just a matter of minutes as we heard in our piece where the water went from ankle-high to knee-high. you have to get out of those situations.
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breanna? >> ed lavandera, watching this in texas. thank you so much. just together, a show of togetherness for bill and hillary clinton. but are they in lockstep as she pushes forward with her presidential campaign? we all enter this world with a shout and we see no reason to stop. so cvs health is creating industry-leading programs and tools that help people stay on medicines as their doctors prescribed. it could help save tens of thousands of lives every year. and that would be something worth shouting about. cvs health, because health is everything. (mom) when our little girl was born we got a subaru. it's where she said her first word.
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new york. the first time they have been together that we have seen them together since she declared. let's bring in cnn politics reporter sarah marie. and a washington correspondent for the new yorker. so guys they're together. how much do you think we're going see this happening, sarah? >> well this is the first time. i think she wants to make sure that she is the spotlight of her own presidential campaign and not bill clinton. and i think he has been clear that he doesn't want to try to steal the limelight from her. that said do you think that she can really campaign without bill clinton? >> i don't know. i think they're pretty burned in 2008. a lot of people blame bill clinton for damaging the campaign in 2008. and, you know the rule is he has to play this sort of avuncular background figure, no be out front not talk strategy not talking to the press. >> he still messes up sometimes. like he said we had to pay the bills. so it wasn't as if he really contributed in that way this the last few weeks here. but i want to talk to you about
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republicans. you have rick santorum trying to convince voters that he is the guy for republicans. george pataki getting back into this. i guess my question is are any of these guys really going to make a tangible impact on the race or are we going to see them maybe running campaign headquarters out of like the local starbucks? >> i think there is two different situations here. pataki hasn't been in office since 2007. he is governor of new york way back when. people don't remember who he is. he is a moderate republican there is not much of a case for him this time. santorum he was the last guy standing against mitt romney in 2012. very often in republican politics, that person has a future the next time around. he has been kind of squeezed out of the race by a lot of other social conservatives. so he is at a tough spot. but certainly more of a credible case than pataki. >> is it too many choices you think for republicans? they talk about how being overwhelmed by choice sarah, isn't always a good thing. that it actually makes people -- it makes them not really feel that great about their choice or their process in it.
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>> it's really interesting. when i talk to voters in iowa, they are so overwhelmed by the options that it's like they have picked little buckets of candidates. so they have a top three set of candidates already. and look i'm going to choose, for instance between ted cruz, mike huckabee and rick santorum or whatever. so i think people are already sort of self-selecting the universe down. they're not necessarily looking at 25 potential candidates and saying look at all these option i have. >> sara murray thank you so much. cnn politics reporter. and ryan lizza cnn contributor. i appreciate you guys being with us. and on this memorial day, many americans are putting the politics of war aside to honor the men and women who have given their lives to defend this country. [ "taps" playing ] . >> on this day, we honor the
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sacrifice of the thousands of american service members men and women who gave their lives since 9/11. including more than 2200 american patriots who made the ultimate sacrifice in afghanistan. >> tomorrow when you resume life's daily routines take a moment to think of the families who will return home and leave their loved ones here in this sacred place. and what of next week and next month. what should we do then? remember. >> and thank you so much for joining us for this tribute on this very important day. we do wish you well on this memorial day. i'm brianna keilar in "the situation room." wolf blitzer will be back tomorrow. "anthony bourdain: parts unknown" starts right now.
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this is where i bought my first bag of heroin. it was 1980, i was 24 years old. but in a lot of ways, my whole life up to that point was leading to this address. western massachusetts, the unlikely new frontier of america's war on drugs where heroin has become an exploding problem that's begun to touch nearly every family. ♪ i took a walk through this beautiful world ♪ ♪ felt the cool rain on my shoulder ♪ ♪ found something good in this beautiful world ♪ ♪ i felt the rain getting colder ♪ ♪ sha, la
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