activist. he feels like he can get them on his side. thirdly, he is going to harken back to the time in the u.s. senate, and talk about his time on the u.s. senate armed services committee, and talk act his experience. randi? >> all right. mark preston, appreciate it. thank you. we well, we hope that you have a great rest of the monday afternoon, and we continue with afternoon, and we continue with brooke baldwin. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com thank you, randi. we are going to begin with news here that andrew wean ler iner addressing the media at 4:00 p.m. eastern hour. we don't know what for, but we will find out. and it is the single deadliest day in two years. five members of a troop killed in an explosion reportedly while they slept. no more details are coming in

from the military leaders from iraq, but remember, we are 6 1/2 months from the date when almost all of the u.s. service members will be out of iraq. way bt i want to touch on that in a second. that attack is one of the second attacks in takrit. a suicide bomber drove into an iraqi checkpoint and killed 11 people there. keep in mind, this is is the same day that defense secretary robert gates is in country, and traveling for his farewell tour face-to-face with troops deployed in afghanistan. i want to go straight to the cnn pentagon correspondent chris lawrence with more on that. chris, before you and i talk about what secretary gates told the troops in afghanistan today and he got a little teary-eyed i want to talk about withdrawal from there, and specifically this upcoming wednesday, we have learned that president obama and afghan president chamid karzai

will be talking. >> yes, and there will be emphasis on the troops withdrawing will be on the table. and look, there are two voices out there. one is that it needs to be slow and steady and that all of the gains that the u.s. has made are fragile and they can be reversed at any time, but there is another set of voices that says that the strategy has not worked and afghanistan is not on the way to being a stable country that can exist on its own, and there is no reason to expand tens of thousands of troops to go after the taliban when really a small target of al qaeda and other terrorist organizations. >> we know that secretary gates was there and addressing questions on that, troop drawdown and policy questions, but with the sound, you can hear that it got personal for him.

secretary gates in afghanistan. >> i probably more than anybody, except for the president himself is responsible for you to be here. i signed the deployment orders that sent you here. that has weighed on me everyday that i have had this job for 4 1/2 years. and so i have taken it as my personal responsibility to make sure that you had what you need to accomplish your mission, to come home safe, and if you get hurt to be medevacked as quickly as possible and get the best possible care. i think about all of oyou every moment of everyday. i feel your hardship, your sacrifice and your burden, more than you can possibly imagine, and that of your family's as well. i think that you are the best that america has to offer. my admiration and affection for you is without limit. each and every one of you will be in my prayers everyday for the rest of my life.

>> chris, we know that this is the 12th and final trip there, and no surprise that the men and women overseas are in his thoughts every single day. >> no, brooke, he is one of the longest serving defense secretaries in american history, so he has a long stretch of time with this war, and also now the realization that although, he is leaving, he's already, you know, sort of contributed to getting these troops over there, and now he is not going to be one of the voices in the room when it comes to developing strategy and trying to weighing in on things that the president has to decide. and so, there had to be a little bit of that feeling as well knowing that the troops are going to be there, but he is not in a position to influence what is going to happen to them. >> and finally, chris, we will see you later in the hour, but talk to me about the peace, of what is happening since you have spoken to the troops that they are coming home, and some of them are hooked on pills?

>>have been talking about iraq and afghanistan for the better part of nine or ten years, so what has happened is that the troops who have gone through so many deployments, the toll mentally and physically has been incredible, and a lot of them are turning to prescription drugs. the catch here is that it's been the military and the v.a. that has been prescribing them, and some of the concoctions are not working well. >> we look forward to that later in the hour. chris lawrence at the pentagon. thank you, chris. and coming up next, prosecutors try to use a sample of air here, air here, in alleging that casey anthony killed her 2-year-old daughter, air from her car trunk. we will tell you how it is being used in the trial under way right now in orlando. we are going to go there live next. hey, did you ever finish last month's invoices?

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before we talk about casey anthony and the trial under way there in orlando, i have a little bit more information on the speaking engagement. new york congressman anthony weiner to be speaking from the sheraton hotel and city, guys? new york. speaking at the top of the hour at 4:00 eastern, and we will bring it to you, and we don't know what he will be speaking about. as soon as we have an idea, we will let you know. back to orlando. inside of the casey anthony murder trial, a testimony turns from motion to science, and prosecutors at the halfway point now of this case against the

florida mother accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter, caylee, and who can forget this moment last week of casey anthony's mother breaking down on the witness stand as the prosecutors played that frantic 911 phone call. >> there is something wrong. i found my daughter's car today and it smells like there has been a dead body in the damn car. >> what is the 2-year-old daughter's name? >> caylee, c-a-y-l-e-e. >> jean casarez is a correspondent for trutv and joining me live from the trial in orlando. jean, what is today's testimony all about? is it about the smell, the smell of death as we have heard it described in casey anthony's car? >> that is a very big part of it. it is fascinating to listen to this, and to listen to the cross-examination, but dr. arpad vass is on the stand, and he is the foremost expert this this country for decomposing bodies, and he has studied them for 20 years. this has never come into the

courtroom before, but he testified that he got a tin can filled with air from casey anthony's trunk. they sent it to him in tennessee from orlando, and he says he opened up the can and jumped back one to two feet, because it was so strong, the smell, and the odor, and when asked, is the odor of decomposition? and he said it was. and he did the analysis and he said that the chemicals were that of a decomposing body in that trunk, and also for the first time we heard chloroform coming into the trial. he said when he measured the chemicals and there was a huge peak compared to other chemicals of chloroform above and beyond what a decomposing body would put out. >> it ism m a mm a amazing to ht they can take a sample of air and put it in a encan and one o the issues will be if the judge

will allow the jury to have a whiff of that can, and do we know when the judge will say yes or no? >> we don't know. but the prosecutors have mentioned it and mentioned nit jury selection that they have tin cans left, and the judge was skeptical, because what you are doing is to take a jury and you are making them witnesses in a sense. so, we will see what the judge does, but if he allows it, that is a first time that has ever been allowed in a courtroom, too. >> that is amazing. jean casarez for us covering the casey anthony trial in orlando. thank you. >> thank you. we were all over this when it first happened last week. remember, sarah palin's comment about paul revere made us do a double-take here, and now she defending what she said. we will hear from her next. again, we are getting word that congressman anthony weiner is going to address the media at 4:00 p.m. eastern time. by a heart valve problem. today we have pradaxa to reduce the risk of a stroke caused by a clot.

in a clinical trial, pradaxa 150 mg reduced stroke risk 35% more than warfarin. and with pradaxa, there's no need for those regular blood tests. pradaxa is progress. pradaxa can cause serious, sometimes fatal, bleeding. don't take pradaxa if you have abnormal bleeding, and seek immediate medical care for unexpected signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. pradaxa may increase your bleeding risk if you're 75 or older, have kidney problems or a bleeding condition, like stomach ulcers. or if you take aspirin products, nsaids, or blood thinners. tell your doctor about all medicines you take, any planned medical or dental procedures, and don't stop taking pradaxa without your doctor's approval, as stopping may increase your stroke risk. other side effects include indigestion, stomach pain, upset, or burning. if you have afib not caused by a heart valve problem, ask your doctor if pradaxa can reduce your risk of a stroke.

again, just to remind you that as i am sitting here watching the clock along with you, we are about 45 minutes away from hearing from new york congressman anthony weiner, and he will be addressing members of the media at the top of the hour from the sheraton hotel out of manhattan, and again, we will bring you the latest developments and what it is that he has to say. thus far, we don't know yet specifically what he will be addressing. i want to revisit a piece of history. last thursday to be exact, we were tracking the sarah palin bus tour as it took the former

alaskan governor the boston. let me pick up there. >> reporter: word got out today that she was walking the sights of of the the freedom trail and signing hats and t-shirts and take a listen to something, because she is doing a riff on the midnight ride of the original, original tea party patriot paul revere. listen. >> he warned the british that they weren't going to be taking away our arms by ringing those bells and making sure that as he rode the horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free. >> wait a second, governor. >> history lesson from sarah palin on the midnight ride of paul revere. again, that was last thursday, but as it turned out, we were not the only ones to notice her take on that part of american history, but this story has taken off and some media offered

history lessons on paul revere's ride. >> reporter: as school kids across the nation learned, that paul revere warned the colonists that the british were coming and remembered not for bells, but lanterns and one if by land and two if by sea. >> so, palin's version of paul revere's bells versus lanterns may have raised a few eyebrows, but in an exclusive interview on fox news channel where she is by the way a paid contributor, palin held her ground. this is what she said. >> you know, what i didn't mess up about paul revere. this is what paul revere did. he warned the americans that the british were coming, and the british are coming, and they are going to try to take our arms. i was not one ride. he was a courier and messenger, and part of the ride was to warn the british that were there, you are not going to succeed or take the arms. i answered candidly, and i know my american history. >> the palins are off of the road now making a new pit stop

at their vacation home in arizona. we will tell you about the palin biopic in nevada, iowa, new hampshire and south carolina and one more time for good measure, palin maintains she is not running for president. and tests show that another vegetable is not the source of the deadly e. coli outbreak, and so now what? and with his wife by his side, the head of the imf pleads not guilty to sexually sas sa l assaulting a hotel maid. and now the head of the hotel and lodging association will tell us whether he believes it is a good idea to give maids a panic button, and whether he believes lit work. and anthony weiner addressing the press today at 4:00. a lot of news happening on a monday. we will be right back.

again, just a reminder that 40 minutes away here from the press briefing that will be given by new york congressman anthony wean, and there he is speaking with our own wolf blitzer and that is from last week, that the congressman will be speaking the top of the hour. with le brithat we will bring i you and we don't know specifically what he will be addressing. here in germany, scientists are keeping an eye on the deadly

e. coli outbreak, and they say that the source is probably not bean sprouts. they felt that sprouts from a farm in germany did make people sick, but at least 1 person in germany and 12 in sweden have died from this toxic strain of e. coli that can make people very ill. and people with the deadliest form of skin cancer, for the first time two new treatment options that prolong survival. research was presented in the national cancer conference this weekend. and the drugs caused the tumors to slink and prolong life for patients with melanoma that have spread to other parts of the body. scientists call it striking and remarkable. a woman in libya who says that she was gang raped by

moammar gadhafi's forces has fled. she was hoping to be a refugee in qatar, but reported last week and sent back to libya. a high-level state source says that the u.s. worked closely with officials in europe and libya to get her out of libya and provide her with the support needs. and the fighting in syria is the deadliest. opposition protesters clashed with government troops in the northeast of syria. a television station there says that 120 security forces were ambushed by what they called armed gangs who reportedly set government buildings on fire. we are working to get confirmation on the figures and more details. so stay tuned for that. to arizona where crews are fiting the third largest wildfire in that state's history. look at these images with me. the massive fire near the arizona/new mexico border has

already destroyed just about 200,000 acres. pushed along by strong winds, dry temperatures, but here's the tough number here, right now, the fire is zero percent contained. zero. the winds are picking up more and more than 2,000 people have had to leave their homes. arizona governor jan brewer calling this fire horrific. we know that there are a couple of other fires burning in the southeast part of the state, but chad myers, i want to bring you in, because as i read about the fire today, it is the northern half of the state where they have the red flag warning. >> yes. >> which means what? that the winds are picking up? that it is great conditions for a wildfire? >> well, certainly no burning. no outdoor burning or camp fire, because those things fall under red flag warning and simply don't do it. and the other thing is that the winds are blowing 25 to 30. and the containment they are trying to make, is that they had relief from the wind in the overnight hours trying to make the backfires which is if you

take a dozer and make a road and then try to burn the fire away from the road so that when the real fire gets up to that road, you will have a buffer where it can't burn anything else, because it has been burning over the hours, and you do that when the winds are 1 or 2 miles an hour, but not when they are 25 or 30. so, when the wind is 25 or 30, the embers go downwind and start fires ahead of where the firefighters are. so it is dangerous and difficult situation when the fires are in a big tough terrain area like here, and the wind is oblowing like that. >> i want to bring in brad who is a fire information officer out there in arizona, springerville, arizona, to be precise. brad, are you with me? >> i am. thanks for having me. >> we were just talking about the fire, and one of the issues that i have read is the fact that this burn path is very unpredictable which is making it a more difficult situation for

the guys and gals out there fighting this thing. >> it is unpredictable, and this is a complex fire, and we have a lot of odifferent factors playing into play on how massive the fire is getting. we have the terrain, the weather that mother nature is serving us, and also some of the rugged areas that the firefighters are trying to work in. it is right now wind is giving us the biggest headache, and there were some forecasts earlier that there is a potential for dry lightning strikes out here, and that would be just another element of the fire that we have to handle. >> this area has gone through, brad, this is chad, a difficult drought situation and points east of there as well where the fire could be burning into it. what is the outlook here? >> well, the outlook is that it is a long haul fire, and we are in for a long durduration, and will be excited for the monsoon rains to comto put this fire out. we have many plans in place, and we have known for the a while that in arizona and throughout the southwest we have had the

markings of a dramatic wildfire season and unfortunately, we don't like the predictions to be correct, but they have been. with the predictions have come the tactics and strategies to ramp up, and we are not taken off guard by the weather conditions or the situations with the fire, but we are trying to keep up with mother nature. >> brad, i feel like it is not often that i sit up here when we talk about the wildfires and say that a fire is zero percent contained, but that number jumps out at me. what is the biggest challenge other enthab, you n than the co you were describing to try to begin to get this thing contained? >> well, it is the weather, and right now, we are having a lot of spot fires as it was described so well before. when we have fire that is crowning or working the tops of the trees, one small ember can be thrown three miles and start a big run of fire. that happened a couple off days ago that it lit up 60,000 acres because of embers.

that is not one area of the fire, but every arena the fire is burning in has that growth potential. so we have evacuated communities, and can't emphasize enough how great the community support has been in cooperation. these folks are tight knit community, and been adhering to the warnings. >> and a lot of the folks say they are suffocating, and some of those who have evacuated as well. ena a and thank you, brad and chad for joining us. i hope they get the assets they need. >> yes, and people from other parts of the country to jump in as well. did you see this? take a look. i know it is hard to hear, and we listened to it, but some of the chants are "shame on you" as the former headf of the imf walks into court. we will tell you what happened when he got inside and what the

maid accusing him of sexual assault is now saying. that is next. plus, it is confirmed, we know what tv's katie couric plans to do next and where. we will tell you coming up, and again, we are waiting to hear from congressman anthony weiner who is planning to address members of the media at 4:00. we don't know what he will be talking about, but kate bolduan is on capitol hill and gathering information. she will join us here in a moment.

all right. just into us here at cnn, we have been reporting that

congressman anthony weiner is going to speak in new york city at the top of the hour. we do not know the subject matter. but we are aware of a new photo being made public this afternoon. take a look. here it is. we believe it does show a shirtless anthony weiner and according to the conservative blog it came from a woman who was exchanges messages with the congressman online. it was sent 20th of may via e-mail and that e-mail does not show any evidence of photo shopping, and it is difficult to be absolutely certain however that image is congressman weiner since the face is partially cropped. we have reached out to the congressman's office for comment, but no word yet. we will go the kate bolduan on capitol hill who is also reaching out to folks from congressman weiner's office, and we will take her live momentarily. if there was ever any doubt

that the media circus would get out of control with the dominic strauss-kahn's hearing? here you go. dozens of maids outside of the courthouse. and look at what happens when the french presidential hopeful arrived. >> do you have anything to say to the hotel worker? >> shame on you. shame on you. shame on you. >> now you can hear it clearly the chant "shame on you" to imf dominic strauss-kahn who pleaded not gill toy uilty to sexually assaulting a hotel maid. his lawyer says that what happened was consensual. >> once the evidence is made clear, there is no element of compulsion here, and any suggestion to the contrary is

simply not credible. >> on the other side, the maid has a lawyer as well, and he says she will testify. >> the victim wants you to know that all of dominic strauss-kahn's power, money and influence throughout the world will not keep the truth about what he did to her in that hotel room from coming out. >> so, in the wake of the strauss-kahn case and another case reported to the media, some hotels in new york are equipping maids with panic buttons. i want to bring in joe mcinnerny. joe, how often do hotel guests sexually assault or maybe even attempt to sexually assault hotel maids? >> well, brooke, thank you for having me on. i have been in the hotel industry for 50 years. and 35 of them managing hotels

and president of three hotel company, and ki cou nd knd i ca hand the amount of sexual assaults of not only maids, but employees in hotels. this is a very rare instance, and unfortunately, we have had two cases within, you know, three weeks. >> and i do want to ask you about the panic buttons in a minute, but in reading different articles about this, the official word from the hotels is that they absolutely don't condone this inappropriate behavior, but when you read about the housekeepers they will say that the mantra is that the customer is always right, and especially if the customer is a rich powerful man paying thousands of dollars for a hotel suite every night. >> well, that is not really true. because the safety and the security of our employees and our guests is a primary responsibility of the hotels. it is the number one priority

for us. that doesn't matter if they are rich or they are poor or whoever they are. if one of our associates is attacked either verbally or physically, management is going to react to that in a positive way. you know, the customer may always be right, but in a case like this, you need to investigate it and make sure that the employees are taken care of. we can't have the employees worried if we are there to protect them. >> okay. joe, explain the panic buttons to me. how would they work? >> well, the panic button and we have heard that the pierre and the sophia hotel will be putting them in and also the savoy and the carlisle hotels who will put in panic buttons with a locator area so they know when the maid hits the button where she is located. one of the problems in new york city with a lot of the older hotels is that the walls are so

thick, and very hard to hear some of these. now, if you are into be 27th floor of one of the major hotels, and you have, you know, security trying to get there even if you do hear it, it is really a problem. the important thing is that the union unions are working with the hotel association of new york city to see what are some additional policies they should be implementing. you know, since this -- >> forgive me for interrupting, but the onus, when you talk about the panic buttons whether it is male or female, the hotel maid to push this button to trigger authorities or perhaps whoever is on dutyt that moment, but i imagine that some of the housekeepers and the maids would say, look, the onus should fall on hotel management that there should be some culture change if this kind of thing happens not regularly, but just that it

happens at all. >> well, it shouldn't happen at all. but we have 4 million people every night staying in hotel rooms in the united states. so, that's a issue. but the important part here is that the hotel companies have been reviewing all of the policies and the procedures to make sure that we are doing the right thing for our maids. they are reinforcing them with the staff at all levels of what should be done if something does happen and how to contact the authorities immediately. and because one of the important things is that these are our employees. they are part of our family, and they are there with us 24/7. >> yep, yep. joe mcinnerny there for me from new york. it is something that a lot of people are surprised about and some folks aren't at all. joe, thank you so much. appreciate it. and we have been talking about how we will be hearing from the new york congressman anthony weiner here in about 25 minutes speaking from a hotel in new york.

i want to go to capitol hill to the congressional correspondent kate bolduan who is i'm sure trying to get in touch with folks from the congressman's office. any luck? >> so far today, no luck at all, brooke. i have reached out personally and multiple times and many of my colleagues have, too, and more than one of the district offices in d.c. and new york and we have gotten no response at all on the latest photos released on the website. released on the big government website by conservative blogger and activist andrew breitbart. >> we are the picture from big government.com, and here it is again, and we cannot confirm the authenticity of the photograph, but nonetheless, this is is the picture, and please continue. >> and of course, brooke. to reiterate, we are not 100% sure and we can't identify the photo that you have, but we don't know if it is anthony

weiner, and we will have this pres conference and anthony wen weiner will be holding a press conference and we don't know the topic of the media availability, but we know that the media availability was announced about an hour before it is actually supposed to happen. so it falls under the definition of hastily called press conference coming hours after all of these new photographs have been posted on this website. so, we will have to find out exactly what the congressman has to say, and if he will be making an announcement or trying to explain himself, but you know that the congressman's efforts, brooke, up to this point to explain himself have kind of come across as more evasive than actually any of us getting answers. this is relating to the other photo that we have been talking about for a couple of weeks now, and the photo sent to a college student via his twitter account in washington state. he came out and sat down with

network anchors and our wolf blitzer and while we as a network and other networks have asked clearly for specific answers, is this photo of you? and did you send this photo? he has been more evasive than clear, and it has created more questions than answers, because that line that we all remember now. i cannot remember with certitude if this is my photo or not, and now we have more photos to ask about. >> and a man who is hip with twitter, and has not tweeted since last thursday. this fantastic exchange went on for six or seven minutes with our colleague dana bash trying to get some answers from the congressman on capitol hill last week, but it is interesting to watch as he has spoken quite a bit about it last week and essentially become radio silent. >> and it is interesting for the viewers who don't know of anthony weiner very well, what is such a head scratcher about this whole situation is that he is known to be one of the more

media savvy members of congress. he is very as you said hip on the twitter and hip on the social media and he is fiery and never shies away from a fight on the house floor, but he is also very media savvy and during this whole controversy he came out, and said, look, i know you are doing your job but -- dot, dot, dot. so that is the head scratcher, if he is so media savvy, why hasn't he come out to give some clear answers which is what is befuddling a lot of people. >> it has befuddled many, many members of the immediate yand a perhaps folks in his district and elsewhere. kate bolduan, thank you so much, and continue to dig. and hop back in front of the camera if you get anything else, and reminding all of you that we are expecting to see congressman weiner at the top of the hour to address the media as kate so aptly put hastily put together and not a lot of warning for this thing that happens at 4:00 eastern, and of course, we are working to bring it to you live

when the congressman does in fact speak. also coming up, it looks like the rumors were true, so where is katie couric off to now? we have details of new show next. as the cbs replacement gets ready for the detail show tonight, howard kurtz will join me to talk all about this, and we will ask him what he really thinks of the future of the evening news. stay with us.

again, we are about 15 minutes away from hearing from new york congressman anthony weiner speaking from a manhattan hotel. subject, tbd, because we don't know what he will be addressing, but he will be addressing members of the media and we will take it live at 4:00 p.m. eastern time. and here is something that people are talking about and trending around our office here, and two words for you, katie couric, and where, oh, where, will she end up? well, long-running rumors abc, and she will have her own show, but that is not all. there is a new time slot, and the replacement, and the oprah factor, and howard kurtz, we were talking about this not too long ago and you said this is the worst kept secret in tv news, so alas, we know this she is going to abc and what do you know about the deal? >> i talked to katie couric a

while ago and she said that abc felt like the right fit for her and more interesting, what is a syndicated show going to look like? katy in 3:00 in the afternoon is different than katie at 3:30 in the afternoon. and she said it is a newsy show, and she said serious stories and light and fun stories and the other twist is katy being reunited by abc with her old producer jeff zucker who was the chief executive at nbc until a few months ago. >> so when she is going to be popping up on air? not this september but the next? >> right, the syndicated show won't launch until 2012, but abc spending a lot of money to get her does not want to hide her in the summer. so this summer, she will play a role at abc news and do what we are told, anchor some specials and contribute big interviews and be a part of breaking or special event coverage. so it is in abc's interest and

of course katie couric's as well as a lifelong journalist to play a role in the news division while she and zucker develop this show that will not air until next year. >> okay. so we know that obviously, she has left the post at cbs, and we have talked about scott pelley, the "60 minutes" man, veteran newsman begins at the 6:00 slot. and what should viewers expect from him? >> no nonsense in the trenches newsman who does not want to publicize himself. you could not have a greater contrast of the launch of katie couric, because her face was on the buses in new york city and the hype and the hoopla of the $15 million anchor, and pelley who does not want his name in the program, but wants to be seen as a reporter at the desk tossing to other reporters. so they are taking a different approach to the cbs news and the anti-katie of scott pelley succeeding katie couric. >> the anti-katie.

and you also have another shuffle meredith vieira saying good-bye and there are so many change, and americans are smart and en gaggaged and lot of them news getting it online, and do television personalities matter? this is where you say, brooke, yes, they do. >> and so they are not the cog, because of the reason that katie couric can go into syndication is because she has a brand built up and shored up at nbc and cbs and then so in other words that in the future we will see the well known personalities in a multi-channel universe marketing themselves online, on twitter, on the air. they are going to be the stars, and not so much just the face of fill in the blank news division, and maybe that applies to cnn as well. >> it is a time of changing. >> and a fan of twitter.

>> i am. howard kurtz, thank you so much. see you sunday morning on "reliable sources," right here on cnn. and atp the of the to hour we will see anthony weiner speaking to the media in a aptly put together news conference. we do not know what he will a specifically addressing, but we will take it live right here. and sarah palin painted as the new face behind the great frontier. we will take a look at that.

live picture, obviously we have crews inside a manhattan sheraton where within a minutes anthony weiner will be making comments. we'll bring it to you live. the flashes are going off and media is getting prepared. what he will be talking about, we don't know. paul steinhauser is joining us

live. we have another candidate jumping in the gop race for the white house this morning? >> we sure do. that's fine. i like that. so let's talk about this -- we've got seven candidates, rick santorum, the former senator from pennsylvania. earlier today, take a listen to what he had to say. >> i'm ready to do what has to be done for the next generation with the courage to fight for freedom, with the courage to fight for america. that's why i'm announcing today that i'm running for president of the united states. join the fight. join the fight. >> santorum is low in most national polls. but this is interesting. he's very conservative on family values, gay rights, abortion, and they are becoming very crucial in choosing the

republican nominee. brooke? >> santorum is in it to win it, as we heard him say today. also, another item, there is a pro sarah palin movie coming out soon. what do we know about it? >> it's called the undefeated. yes, it is. and it's about sarah palin made by a conservative film maker. palin kind of launched it in a way to change her perception among most americans. take a look at a clip. >> the days of governor administration 15-hour days. >> when the constitution was written, the founders decided that we needed a ceo, one person, that would be responsible. >> all decisions must go through this ceo. >> if things were to go wrong in the state, they wanted the ability to know where that blame lays. >> of all of the 50 governors in

the united states, she was sitting at the desk of one of the most powerful. >> now, remember, palin when she was alaska governor stepped down halfway through her term in office. she hopes this film maybe sets the record straight. it's a very positive film that doesn't look at many of her controversies. where will it premier, iowa. the state that kicks off the race for the white house. brooke? >> yet still she says she's not in it so far. so i'm wondering, who is in it? we saw just last week mitt romney, coming under attack from a fellow republican. >> yes, herman cain. he was pretty critical of romney, about romney's money. romney is the most well financed. so far in the raise, he says we've got to beat romney's

money. he will be on wolf blitzer tomorrow. mitt romney, you don't even have to wait until tomorrow. he's on piers morgan. brooke, back to you. >> paul, thank you so much. a quick reminder, before we go to break, live pictures inside of the sheraton hotel where we will be seeing new york congressman anthony weiner speaking within a matter of minutes. we'll bring that to you live. this comes just one week after the congressman is answering some questions. he was doing a the lo of talking after that lewd picture came from his twitter account. what will he be talking about here at the top of the hour? we don't yet know. we will soon find out. stay here. a lot of news. we'll be right back. [car horn honks] our outback always gets us there... ... sometimes it just takes us a little longer to get back. ♪

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welcome back. any second now, congressman anthony weiner is going to address members of the media. all of this comes one week after he began to answer questions by lewd pictures from his twitter account. we have a crew in manhattan. we will take him live as soon as we see him there. take us back in the last week and what has evolved in this story. >> sure. absolutely. and to wrap up kind of quickly and of course stop me if this

press conference starts, brooke. this all started last week. it was kind of really heated up. this was a controversy surrounding the congressman's twitter account and a lewd photo that was sent to a college student in washington state through his twitter account. there were several press conferences. my colleagues asked very good questions, very hard questions, and that press conference got a little testy at one point. in the end, what hpened is that the congressman decided to hold sit down interviews and he sat down with wolf blitzer to answer very clearly once and for all some very honest, easy questions, how this happened, is this photo -- was that photo of him and did it come from his twitter account? he did say that he did not send that photo to that college student but his answer to a very easy question is this photo of you is what really has continued to raise more questions than offer answers. he said repeatedly i cannot say

with certitude if this photo is of me or not. he couldn't say that it was sure -- whether it was a photo of him. and that basically has a lot of people scratching their head and we have what is happening today, brooke. >> any moment now, we should be hearing him speak live from the manhattan hotel. we heard from him and he did a lot of talking last week but ultimately saying, you know, with certitude whether or not that photo, that lewd photo was in fact his. what has the reaction been like on capitol hill among fellow democrats as well as republicans? >> i would say right after it came out, many democrats and many republicans basically, many lawmakers didn't want to have anything to do with it, not surprisingly. many people have come out to say that this is a personal issue for him. some of his close friends have

said that it's a personal issue for him and he will deal with it as we should. we have heard privately more and more people as very honestly this story has kept going throughout the week and people have said this is basically distracting them from their message. the issues that they really want to be talking about. this is distracting everyone from those and kind of taking front and center in the media spotlight. it's been frustrating for democratic members for this story to go away so they can be talking about issues that they care about. that's why i spoke with the number two democrat in the house and asked him about the political fallout of that twitter photo and he said that he's had a conversation with anthony weiner and he needs to clear it out and he said that thursday of last week. that's been the reaction. on the republican side it will not surprise you that republican aides are happy to stand back

and watch them being thrown off their message. they don't need to add anything at this point. they can watch the story play out, as we've heard. anthony weiner does what he wants to do. he doesn't really listen to advice, even if it's given to him. he does what he wants to do. this is something that he himself needs to deal with. >> we are looking at pictures from may 31st. for quite a bit of length of time to our colleague, dana bash, back and forth, trying to get him to answer certain questions. at times evasive, at times not. since midweek last week, kate, he has been quiet. he hasn't tweeted. he's a congressman who tweets quite a bit. he canceled perhaps a number of events. he's fallen under the radar up until now. >> and he came out, i believe it was thursday morning, if my memory serves me correctly, that i was standing outside of his

office along with other reporters waiting there to see if he would speak to the media as he had done every day prior to that. he came out and made a statement to the media that said basically, look, i'm going to get back to work. i've answered all of your questions and now i'm going to get back to the job that the people are paying me to do and walked away and he really hasn't answered any questions since. that doesn't stop the fact that the answers that he's offered to our questions about the photo -- if the twitter photo is of him or not, have not been answered clearly. and now today a new photograph has surfaced on this conservative website, andrew brightbar and it appears to be the congressman but we cannot verify it. we are not 100% sure but hours after that photo has surfaced, this media availability is about to begin.

and people are not telling us if they know what he's going to say i want to go to mary snow. the atmosphere in the room, also if you have learned anything as far as what he may specifically be addressing? >> reporter: well, brooke, what we're seeing is a little bit surreal. andrew breitbart, who is a conservative blogger that has been posting these pictures came to the press conference and he's up at the podium now. just within minutes, there's a packed room it's unclear why they are here. he said i'm here to watch myself

be vindicated and he is saying that he was angry, there is a left wing blog that accused him of being behind this prank. he said he was in new york and decided to come to this press conference. so it's a little surreal right now that he has taken over this conference. >> explain people who don't know the story, in andrew breitbart's own words, he wants to be vindicated from what? >> he says that he is ang gres that he was accused of hacking into congressman weiner's twitter account. and these latest photos that surfaced throughout the day are on his website. he says that he wants to vindicate himself saying that there was more to the story, that it wasn't a hacking, and that he had been falsely accused of hacking the congressman's

twitter account and that's why he is here today. >> we see andrew breitbart speaking where we should see congressman weiner speaking at any time now. do we anticipate that congressman weiner's wife might be there? are you learning anything about who might be in attendance? >> that is the big question, everybody is waiting to see whether his wife will be with him. brooke, we have had a crew here and it's unclear if he will be alone or not. and this room is packed and it was packed very quickly. there was not a lot of advanced notice about this news conference. >> when you say scramble, at what point in time did you learn that this thing would be held at

the top of the hour? >> i would have to say it was after 2:00. almost close to 3:00 when it was fully confirmed that there was going to be a press conference here. i would say in about two hours of advance time, in terms of how much advance warning we knew about this press conference. >> so would it be fair to say that this thing was not planned before earlier today? >> reporter: and as you heard, as kate was reporting throughout the day, there were calls into congressman weiner's office, repeated calls into his office and we had not heard from his office throughout the day. so this was the first indication this afternoon that the congressman was going to say anything and it was late in the afternoon, a couple hours after it was called. >> we learned that friends of congressman weiner had this ballroom booked ahead of time.

so that would tell me that they did anticipate having some sort of an event in this room at this time today. >> that's really unclear, brooke, in terms of what exactly was on the congressman's schedule today, whether he plans to speak with reporters. as you know, there are these photographs that had been trickling out throughout the day on andrew breitbart's website and they had been trying to get ahold of the congressman to get a clarification about these photos. this has been an ongoing thing to get a reaction from him. >> i was talking to kate bouldan earlier about how congressman weiner came out in the forefront after that initial photo, the lewd photo was out from his twitter account. he was talking. he did a round of interviews, and then he canceled a number of

appearances over the weekend. do you know, mary, how he spent his weekend, kind of under the radar? >> we don't know. and here in new york, that was the big story. yesterday when there was the parade, his absence was noted in the new york press. it is unclear where he was this weekend, how he spent that time. spoken to other congressional members in new york and they didn't really know or couldn't say where he was this weekend. >> okay. mary snow, stand by for me. we'll come back to you as soon as we eventually see not this man but congressman anthony weiner speaking. there is a packed ballroom and here is andrew breitbart who perhaps happened to be in the area, who is from

biggovernment.com. one of the photographs had been shown. he wants to be vindicated. again, we're waiting to see congressman weiner. we're going to get a quick break in. we have crews in new york, on capitol hill, and we're all over the story. we'll be right back. ns when he tries to use his miles. ♪ that's a lot of red tape! step on it! [ tires screech ] ♪ i can't escape the red tape! now you can with rapid rewards! come on! [ tires screech ] [ male announcer ] join rapid rewards and enjoy unlimited reward seats, no blackout dates, and no red tape. ♪ an accident doesn't have to slow you down.

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wing blogger andrew breitbart taking to the stage of congressman anthony weiner's press conference. kate, you are now learning that the congressman is waiting in the wings. >> reporter: full disclosure, this is an unfolding situation. as we know, things are changing by the minute. my colleagues called the congressman weiner's new york office and they confirmed to her that he has scheduled this press conference. this media availability. he legitimately has scheduled this. so as far as we know from their office, he scheduled this and we are all waiting to see if -- expecting that it should be begin at any moment. what now, since andrew breitbart showed up and we are all

standing by to watch. at 4:00, it has come and gone and you are confirming that we should be seeing the congressman and as i take a sneak peak, still no sign of anthony weiner. mary snow, is she still on the phone? mary snow, to you, if you can hear me, if you can just sort of describe the feeling in the room. >> reporter: he walked into the back of the ballroom. there are dozens of reporters here and cameras here waiting for this news conference and andrew breitbart walked in and started asking him questions.

>> you're saying it's members of the media who said, go ahead and speak? >> reporter: yes. because he walked in, reporters had surrounded him in the back of the room, cameras, everybody was asking him, why was he here? that this was -- in a way, it was for congressman weiner and some members of the press suggested that he go up to the podium since it was already set up. he walked up to the podium and started taking questions from the press. and when you saw -- it was a thing where he walked up and started answering questions as we were waiting for congressman weiner. i've been looking for congressman weiner to see his whereabouts because obviously the time has lapsed. it was a little bit before 4:00

that andrew breitbart started answering questions. it was surreal that he just went on and started -- was up there at the podium. >> i mean, it all depends on, you know, is it that he hijacked the press conference? did he just so happen to be there? was it this sort of odd serendipity that he was in the area? >> he said he was in the area but he certainly found the room that there was the scheduled 4:00 press conference. and andrew breitbart said that he was in new york, about three blocks away and he decided that he was going to come over to this press conference. >> okay. mary snow, stand by for me. we are all waiting and watching for congressman anthony weiner

who was supposed to speak 17 minutes ago now. kate, i want to go to you and go back to a point that i appreciate you made earlier. just a little bit of context here on the new york congressman. the fact that he has a sense of humor, he's a bit savvy on twitter all the time. >> yeah. >> you know, all of those things. >> reporter: he's well known on the media. republicans, while they don't agree with him politically on many issues, they definitely see him as a worthy opponent. he's known to be very fiery. and on a passionate debate over health benefits for 9/11 for first responders. he is known to be quite witty

and often self-deprecating and makes fun of the fact that he has a giggle worthy last name, if you will. so he as often takes that on and even this past week when we've spoken to him, brooke, he has tried to make light of the issue and tried to joke about how this all came about. i don't think now that he is laughing at this point as things have gotten a little more serious and tense and the allegations seem to be more serious at this point with the new photos coming out. >> kate, thank you. folks, we'll have to keep standing by and waiting. 4:20 on my clock and still no congressman weiner. we're waiting. let's get a break in. we'll take you right back to new york after this. stay with us.

. welcome back. breaking news here. 4:21 -- 4:22 now and still no congressman weiner. live pictures. you can see the crush of media there inside of this manhattan hotel room at the sheraton where we were supposed to see the congressman weiner at the top of the hour. 22 minutes have passed. we will go to him as soon as we take him take to that podium. in the meantime, i want to remind all of you that the last time congressman weiner spoke here to cnn was last wednesday to wolf blitzer. wolf was one of the folks that

he spoke to. this was wolf and congressman weiner from last week. >> did you send that picture to that college student in washington state? >> i did not. she says she never got it and doesn't know me. i certainly don't know her. this seems like it was a prank to make fun of my name. when you're named weiner, that happens a lot. i have 45,000 twitter followers. this seems like a prank that has gotten an enormous amount of attention. >> have you ever taken a picture like that of yourself? >> i can tell you this. i have photographs. i don't know what photographs are out there in the world of me. i don't know what has been manipulated and doctored. we're going to try to find out what happened. but the most important reason that i want to find out what happened is that so that it doesn't happen again. someone got access to my account. that's bad. touche, you got me. at the time it happened, i

tweeted right away that i got the joke and continued on with my life and i think, frankly, that's what i would encourage everyone to do. i don't believe that this is a big federal issue. >> are you protecting anyone? >> yes. >> who? >> i'm protecting my wife, who every day is waking up to these insane stories that are getting so far from reality. you know, we've been married less than a year. to watch her watch these stories, gets crazier and crazier about what is essentially a hoax. weiner went to bed that night not batting an eye, a goofy thing that happened. she married a congressman. she knows a little something about living in public life. she knows with that goes a certain amount of aggravation. i don't think she imagined that it would be this. this bizarre stories about people connected to me by eight or nine rings of connection on social media. i'm protecting her the best that

i can. i can handle this. i'm protecting people who are so offended when cnn puts this breitbart thing on and says outlandish things about complete innocent people. i can take the flack but at some point when i say i'm not going -- >> here he comes. we're breaking away. congressman anthony weiner. >> thank you very much for being here and good afternoon. i'd like to take this time to clear up some of the questions that have been raised over the past ten days or so and take full responsibility for my actions. at the outset i would like to make it clear that i have made terrible mistakes that have hurt

the people i care about the most and i am deeply sorry. i have not been honest with myself, my family, my constituents, my friends, and supporters and the media. last friday night i tweeted a photograph of myself that i intended to send as a direct message as part of a joke to a woman in seattle. once i realized i had posted it to twitter, i panicked, took it down, and said that i had been hacked. i then continued with my story and stuck with that story which is a regrettable mistake. this woman was unwittingly dragged into this. to be clear, the picture was of me and i sent it. i am deeply sorry for the pain this has caused my wife and our family and my constituents, my friends, supporters, and staff. in addition, over the past few years i have engaged in several

inappropriate kfr inappropriate kfrgs over twitter, and occasionally with women who i have met online. i've exchanged messages and photos of an explicit nature with six women over the last three years. for the most part, these communications took place before my marriage, though some have sadly took place after. to be clear, i have never met any of these women or had physical relationships at any time. i haven't told the truth and i've done things that i deeply regret. i've brought pain to people that i care about the most and the people who believe in me and for that i am deeply sorry. i apologize to my wife and our families. as well as to our friends and supporters. and i am deeply ashamed of my

choices and actions. i'd be glad to take any questions that you might have. >> congressman, should you go ahead and resign? >> i came here to accept the full responsibility for what i've done. i am deeply regretting what i have done and i am not resigning. i have made it clear that i accept responsibility for this and people who draw conclusions about me are free to do so. i've worked for the people of my district for 13 years and politics for 20 years and i hope that they see fit that it's a mistake. >> you say that before you were married and after you were married and you were a member of congress before then. >> i think it's more

inappropriate the things that i have done since i've been married. my primary sense of regret and my primary apology goes to my wife. i should not have done this. and i should not have done this particularly when i was married. that's why i make that distinction. >> why would you do this after you were married? what were you thinking? >> you know, i don't know what i was thinking. this was a destructive thing to do and i'm apologetic for doing it and it was deeply, deeply hurtful to the people that i care about the most. it was something that i did that was just wrong and i regreet it. >> are you embarrassed for this kind of activity and is that a violation of the public trust? >> i did not. >> i didn't do -- listen, i'm

going to try to tell you everything that i can remember. it was my blackberry is not a government blackberry. my home computer is usually where i did these things. i don't have the knowledge of every last communication but i don't believe that i used any government resources. >> you had an x-rated photo of you. can you say that that is not true? >> no, i cannot. i regret not being honest about this. this was a big mistake to -- i was embarrassed. i was humiliated. i'm still to this moment. i was trying to protect my wife. i was trying to protect myself from shame. it was a mistake and i really regret it.

this was a mistake and i'm very sorry for it and i take it seriously but i am -- and where i go from here and what steps i take, i take it seriously. this was a destructive thing to do that i deeply regret. >> congressman, your wife is not here. are you going to split up with your wife because of this? >> i love my wife very much and we have no intention of splitting up over this. we have been through a great deal together and we will -- we will weather this. i love her very much and she loves me. >> where is she? >> these are generally in some cases i initiated them. generally women that i met on facebook. >> do you have anything to say to andrew breitbart?

>> i'm first and foremost apologetic to my wife, people that watched me make this terrible mistake. but everyone that i have misled, everyone in the media, my staff, the people that i lied to about this, they all deserve an apology. >> but after eliot spitzer, why would you do such a thing, especially as a member of public office? >> this was a very dumb thing to do and it was a destructive thing to do but it wasn't part of any plan to be hurtful to my wife, it wasn't a plan to be deceitful to you or a plan to be -- it wasn't part of a plan. it was a destructive thing that i did that i accept responsibility for. if you're looking for some kind of deep explanation for it, i simply don't have one except that i'm sorry. >> when chris sent that photo, did that make you stop and think maybe i shouldn't do that?

>> i didn't think of it that way. i would think about -- from time to time i would say to myself, this is a mistake or this conversation, someone could listen in on or translate to someone else, this was a -- i know that there is a sense that everything is part of a plan and it was thought through and calculated. in this case it was just me doing a very dumb thing and for that i accept the responsibility. >> can you tell us when you sent the pictures? >> i didn't see any of the pictures that were released today. i can tell you that there were some women that i had kfr conversations with and inappropriate things were said. and i apologize for that. >> the last thing on this day when i have done this to my wife and my family, that i'm standing

before all of you and accepting responsibility for this shameful thing, is thinking about next year's election or the election after that. the first thing i need to do is make sure that obviously that this never, ever happens again and that i make it up to my wife and my family and to all of the people that i have harmed. >> are you going to receive professional help? >> i have not -- i'm going to try to handle this and i haven't ruled out perhaps seeing someone but i'm not blaming anyone. this is not something that can be treated away. this is my own personal mistake. this is not something that -- this is a weakness, a deep weakness that i have demonstrated and for that i apologize. some of these relationships. >> when did you decide to not

stick with your story. >> i was embarrassed and didn't want to lead it to other embarrassing things. it was a dumb thing to do, to try to tell lies about it because it just led to more lies. but almost immediately after i said the lie i knew that i was putting people in a very bad position and i didn't want to continue doing it. >> did any of the women ever ask you for money in exchange for not coming forward? >> no. >> was megan one of the women? >> megan was one of the women. >> when did you tell your wife? >> my wife has known about some of these online relationships since before we were married and we spoke frankly about them

because -- we've always spoke frankly about them but she didn't know until this morning that i had not been telling the truth that i had made that twitter posted last week. >> what do you say to the people that you talked to on cnn? >> i'm here to express my apologies to my wife and family but all of you who were misled, the people that i have lied to. >> but not specifically to him? >> look. i believe that everything deserves an apology here and i'll be -- here's what -- >> where is your wife right now? >> i apologize to the media that i misled and first and foremost to my wife and family. >> where is she right now in. >> she is not here.

>> where is she? >> i have a loving wife. i don't -- it's not anything like that. i treated it as a frivolous thing, not acknowledging that it was causing harm to so many people and would eventually come out. yes, sir? >> i spoke briefly to leader pelosi before i came over here. she said to be truthful and to say what you know and was thankful that i was doing that tod today. she was not happy. told me as much. she my primary apology, as i've said, is to my wife and she made it very clear that what i had done was very dumb and not happy

and she also is very disappointed and also told me that she loved me and wanted us to, you know, pull through this. i did a regrettable thing and for that i apologize. >> you said that you were on the phone. did you have phone sex with these women, ever have an affair? >> as i said in any statement, i never met any of these women. >> did you have phone sex? >> di never met any of these women. >> for their privacy, i am not going to but i'm not going to rebut anything that they have come forward. they have ever right to do so. i am not going to make any evidence to characterize those

statements. >> while you may not have -- to do it on congressional time as a congressman -- >> well, i guess -- i mean, congressional time could theoretically be anything. congressmen work long hours. but i don't believe i did anything here that violates any law or my oath to constituents. what i did is something that demonstrated a very deep personal failing and that's why i'm here to apologize. >> in the photos that exist, is there any other type of behavior that you've conducted as a congressman that you could be ashamed of? that you solicited or engaged in any service with women or -- >> no, i've never had sex outside my marriage and i've done these things and i regret them. but i have never done anything -- never done anything that you described and i don't

know where else to get it. >> was there alcohol or drugs involved in -- >> i'm not making any excuses for my behavior. i don't do drugs. i was not drinking. that wasn't the cause of this. this was me doing a dumb thing and doing it repeatedly and then lying about it and that's all there is. i'm here to accept responsibility for this. i'm not asking to shift the blame to anyone else or to any external force or anything else. >> congressman, have you had contact with miss cordova after -- >> i didn't talk to her. we exchanged some text messages. mostly from me to express my be a jekt apologies for how she got dragged into this. >> have you ever spoken to her before via -- >> yes, we had exchanged some direct messages but we had never

spoken. >> i just -- look, my wife is a remarkable woman. she's not responsible for any of this. this was visited upon her. she's getting back to work and i apologize to her very deeply. >> congressman, how -- >> we'll have to make that determination. i'm here to state my apologies and accept responsibility teas. beyond that, my constituents have to make that determination. if it's up to them that believes that they don't want to vote for me, i'm going to work very hard to win back their trust and to try to persuade them. this is a personal failing of mine that i have worked very hard for my constituents for a very long time and long hours.

and as someone who wants to draw that conclusion, i'm here to accept very bad decisions. >> does it bother you that they are very young -- >> i don't know the exact ages of the women and -- >> that could be your children. >> i don't know the exact ages of the women and i don't know if you do, i'm going to respect their privacy. but they are all adults, at least to the best of my knowledge, they were all adults and they were engaging in these conversations consensually. >> but if you don't know how old they are, how do you know they are adults? >> well, all i know is what they publish about themselves in social media. someone could have been fibbing about it and that's a risk --

>> congressman, are you surprised by the reaction that your colleagues have had about this issue given your delegation and other people? >> look, i wasn't telling the truth. i had done something that was dishonorable. i had lied. i don't begrudge for anyone leaping to my defense in that circumstance. this was -- you know, i don't -- this isn't anyone else's fault. this isn't -- didn't demonstrate their bad judgment or their mistakes. this was me. and i take responsibility for that and i'm not looking to point blame or share responsibility with anyone. i'm going to go back to work and try to convince them that this was a personal failing, that is

an abboration from which i have learned and all i can do is work hard every day. it doesn't change my ability or my record of getting bills passed or filling potholes or fulfilling community service. this was a personal failing and i hope that they see it that way. and i don't begrudge them, if they see it as a personal failing and won't vote for me, i take that responsibility. i'm going to have to work very hard. >> do you see any controversy in the fact that resigned with mark foley -- >> i regret that it didn't have to do with my government service or a personal weakness but

people can draw their own conclusions about that. i'm not resigning and i'm going to try to go back to work a better person and a better man. i'm going to try to be a better husband, too. >> what did your wife say? >> she was very unhappy, very disappointed, and she told me as much and she also said that she loved me and said we were going to get through this but she deserves much better than this and i know that. >> can you explain why here, why now you come out and say this? >> look, my primary concern about the entire incident to begin with was my concern about some of these relationships that i had becoming public and it seems that what i had done by denying the original action had only served to make things worse and only served to lead to people being asked longer, tougher questions. it's really true, you know, that the smarter better thing to do would be to just tell the truth

and let the chips fall where they may, even if they came to this place. and that was the mistake and that's why i'm here. >> did you cheat? was this a frat boy antic? are you addicted to -- >> all i can do is give you the facts that i laid out in my statement. i know that i never met these women and never had much desire to and to me it was almost a frivolous exchange among friends that i don't think i made an important enough distinction about how hurtful it was and how inappropriate it was. >> the certitude that you say that is not something that you can rely on, how do you know that these women are not underage or they are not truthful about their own self. >> of course, no one ever knows

that. i know that i never had any intention of having any interaction with underage women. whenever you engage with anyone, and that's true of -- that's always true in social media that you're relying on their character rye zagss and i took them at those characterizations. >> are you at all disturbed about the fact that -- >> look, i am sorry and i continue to be but i don't see anything that i did that violated any rules of the house. i don't see anything that i did that certainly violated my oath of office to uphold the constitution. i engaged in inappropriate online conversations with people that included the photographs and it was a mistake to do that. but i don't believe that i did anything that violates any law or any rule. >> were you worried that you were going to get caught at some

point and that was part of the appeal of it? >> no, i didn't have the sense that they were complete strangers. these were relationships that i developed online and i believed that we had become -- we had become friends but that was clearly a mistake and i clearly regret that. >> but they were young enough to be your daughters. >> yes. >> these women -- >> we had -- i mean, i don't know her and i still don't really know her. she was a follower who we had cursory direct message contact. she was having trouble with some people that were tweeting about her and giving her a hard time because she was following me and it was a mistake and i just want to make it very clear, of all the -- looking there are a long list of people that i harmed here but this poor woman was one of them as well and i deeply regret that she got dragged into

it. >> the perils of social media of public officials, would you subject that they remove their tweeter accounts? >> no, i would suggest not to do dumb things like this that are dishonest to their families, deceitful to the press when they are asked about them, to not doing do something wrong like this. there is nothing inherently wrong. what i did was a mistake. >> did you end your twitter account? >> did you approach her or tell her not to -- >> at no time did i or any member of my staff try to do anything to cover anything up. she did reach out to me and express what -- how she had been set upon and i expressed my apologies to her but there was no coaching of any sort going on. and it was basically me saying

what i have said here today, which is how deeply sorry i am for my actions. my staff has never had any contact with her. my staff did not know the actual story here. i misled them as well. >> what are you telling your staff now? >> they only heard the full story kind of late this afternoon as i was getting ready to come over here. they are -- and they've worked -- they are another group of people that i have letdown. in fact, they knew nothing and i deeply regret putting them into the circumstance of having to defend me when i knew myself. >> was there any predatory about your behavior? >> look, the women that i have been in contact with, without violating their privacy, they are not uniformly young women. i don't know their ages, but the people that i've had these engagements with on facebook are not -- are not young per se.

>> is this a violation of your oath of office? >> i am deeply sorry that i lied about this. but at the end of the day, i lied because i was embarrassed. i lied because i was ashamed of what i had done and didn't want to get caught. but did i violate the constitution of the united states by lying about posting a twitter post? i certainly don't think so and i haven't spoke to anyone who did. but if people want to say that this is a violation of my oath because i sent a twitter that i regretted and i lied about it and obviously people are entitled to their -- >> i don't believe i'll use it the same way, that's for sure. and i deeply regret the way i've used it today but for my use of

twitter and i certainly wouldn't obviously do the things that i had done that led me to this place. >> of course i would. i did not. i did not. >> congressman -- >> yes. >> thank you. >> they were inappropriate. they were part of a consensual, you know, exchanges of e-mails and i don't want to violate the privacy of the women who were involved. but it was clearly mistaken, one that i deeply mistake. thank you.

seven term congressman, anthony weiner, standing up at that podium for just about half an hour taking question after question after question from members of the media. essentially saying this, that he lied, that he lied to his wife, he lied to his constituents, to members of the media, that that photograph, that lewd photo was in fact sent from him, intended to be a direct message to that woman in seattle and instead it was tweeted it out and that is how this whole thing began. a couple of other notes i took, he did admit to engaging in multiple inappropriate conversations, all of this over social media, all of this with women who he was led to believe were of age, 18 and older, he mentioned in total six women over the course of the last three years. he said that his wife, who by the way he has just married in the last year, in fact, president clinton married them. she works at the state department under secretary of

state hillary clinton. she was aware of some of these inappropriate relationships, prior to their marriage but according to congressman weiner just now did not know until this morning that it was her husband who posted the twit pic from two fridays ago. he said i haven't told the truth and have done things i deeply regret. also i regret what i have done and i am not resigning. wolf blitzer, i am sure you have been watching this thing right along with me, right along with many, many people who have been watching. wolf, it was with you with whom he spoke last wednesday. you to whom he said, this wasn't me. >> yeah. he was clearly lying. not just to his friends and his family but lying to all of us because i asked them several questions and he now admits he didn't tell us the truth when i asked specifically, did you send that picture to that woman in washington state, that young college student. he said no, absolutely no.

and now he's acknowledging that it was a lie. when i said, what about other pictures, did you send other pictures, you knew if they were your underpants, he came up with an explanation that photos can be doctored, sometimes you send stuff from one account and it looks like it's coming from another twitter account. all of that was now sceeen as a lie. he should have been honest last week because, as you know n. washington it's always the cover up which is very often so much worse than the initial sin or crime or if there was a crime, of a wrongdoing, whatever. but then when he went on television and he ridiculed and blasted reporters, including dana bash and our producer on capitol hill, calling him a bad word, i don't even want to repeat it right now. it was just ridiculous and then the next day, when he did that series of interviews with all of

the actors and reporters in washington, a very long one with me. it's just heartbreaking and it's especially heartbreaking because those of us who know his wife huma, who is a wonderful woman who has worked for the secretary of state for a long time, they have been married for less than a year, it must be so painful for her family, his family, and you saw him almost breakdown and cry several times. >> several times. >> he acknowledged at the end maybe he needs some therapy, maybe he needs some help to deal with these problems because, you know, it's just a bad, bad situation all around. >> wolf, i know you need to get ready for "the situation room" which begins in four minutes and you have quite a bit he to tackle so i'm going to let you go and get ready for your show. in the meantime, want to go back to mary snow. here's one of the things, i was in communication with my producers as we were both watching this together. one thing that struck us, was the fact that he stood there for

nearly half an hour taking question after question. essentially opening himself up to media scrutiny. >> yeah, and brooke, blurting out comments and statements, that's when he decided to cut it off. he was taking all of those questions. as you mentioned a moment ago when you were talking to wolf, there were several times when his voice started cracking, almost every time when he mentioned his wife and when asked how she was doing or when he told her, his voice -- he really started breaking up and it looked like he was going to start crying. you know, he said that he told his wife only this morning about the truth and he said that it was time to tell the truth and only told his staff this afternoon and that he had been in touch with house speaker nancy pelosi and she advised him

to be truthful but it was and on his website, andrew breitbart's, big government, to listen to what anthony weiner had to say. >> surreal is quite an appropriate word. thank you for your reporting. i'm sure you're staying there of course for "the situation room." i do want to end with going to sunny hostin. sunny, i want to ask you, just in terms of legally, did congressman weiner break the law and you heard during the news

conference the age of the women. are we talking about sexting or exchanging pornographic images, our using a computer, blackberry of the government. i'm sure a congressional ethics committee would have to look into that, whether or not a law was broken or whether or not ethics violations are a possibility. >> and sometimes they are combined. five american men lost in iraq, implications of the 9.1% unemployment rate and two key countries on the brink, yemen and syria, thatas