why we're with giving congresswoman with bachmann and her colleagues so much coverage. let me just take a moment before we go on to tell you why, because this is a country which is supposed to protect and uphold religious liberty. and when any religious group is targeted by sitting members of congress without evidence -- targeted by sitting members of congress, that is not something anybody should remain silent about. some people have tweeted me saying these are just allegations for political reasons, an that these allegations have very real consequences, not just for the individuals who are unfairly put under a microscope of suspicion, but consequences for our foreign policy for all of us. it has a real world impact. these allegations are having an impact right now around the world affecting american foreign policy in one of the most sensitive regions on the earth, the middle east. we'll show you how in just a moment. first i want to show you what congresswoman bachmann is basing her suspicion of huma abedin on. i want to kind of walk you down the road she's taking.

in after 16-page letter, she says that huma abedin's late father, mother and brother are connected to the muslim brotherhood. here's how she figures it. let's start with with abedin's father, again, her dead father, a man named syed abedin, who was a professor of social science and the founder of the institute of muslim minority affairs in saudi arabia decades ago. we're talking decades ago. now bachmann attributes this information to a 2002 article out of brigham young university. according to that article, professor abedin's institute had the support of another man who is a former general secretary of another group called the muslim world league. now bachmann says according to the pugh forum, the muslim world league has a history of being closely aligned in partnering with the muslim brotherhood. so that is how many degrees of separation congresswoman bachmann's claim is based on. huma abedin's deceased father started an organization, decades

ago, allegedly had the support of another guy who had another organization that might have had the support of another organization, the muslim brotherhood. and because of that, huma abedin might be some sort of spy or infiltrator or agent of influence and deserves to be investigated. as for abedin's mother and brother, congressman bachmann never gives any links to the muslim brotherhood. all these charges are having an impact on u.s. foreign policy. here's how. take a look, these are angry crowds that greeted secretary clinton and huma abedin in cairo over the weekend. now you might be wondering what are they protesting about? they're protesting the election of their new islamist president. some caring signs saying stop u.s. funding of the muslim brotherhood, and "clinton is the supreme guide of the muslim brotherhood." where would they get an idea like that? it turns out from an american blogs and websites. that's what a number of

egyptians told reporters. one egyptian blogger directed "the wall street journal" to transcript of a conversation between two american conservatives who claim that huma abedin was participating in a muslim brotherhood plot to penetrate the u.s. government. and that blogger's source is also michele bachmann's source, frank gaffney. he says the muslim brotherhood is infiltrating american life. he is also called the anti-muslim movement's most paranoid propagandist. but before gaffney was focusing on huma abedin, he was focusing suspension on grover norquist who is married to a muslim woman. he's famous for asking republican candidates to take a pledge not to raise taxes. but gaffney has said that norquist is helping the muslim brotherhood to infiltrate the conservative movement. those allegations were condemned by a number conservative groups and got mr. gaffney barred from cpac, the conservative political

action conference. the american conservative union investigated his allegations against norquist and found them false and unfounded and resolved. its complete confidence in the loyalty of suhail khan, a bush department official and grover norquist to the united states. he's the intellectual inspiration between bachmann and company. what makes senator john mccain's statement today so bold, is that other republican members of congress had been silent on bachmann's charges or kind of supportive. one michigan republican, mike rogers, who chairs the house select committee on intelligence. let me just repeat that. he is the chairman of the committee. here is what he said recently on frank gaffney's radio show. referring a decision to edit fbi training materials to remove language that critics said was anti-muslim. >> michele bachmann is taking the lead of this particular issue and going through and trying to figure out what they took out of the training

materials and what they left in. and why did it get changed? >> it bears restating, congress rogers is chairman of the house intelligence committee, he's a very powerful lawmaker. as for congresswoman bachmann, we spent much of day trying to get her to answer questions. she would not. after mccain blasted her, she released a statement saying her allegations are being distorted. in her statement, by the way, she made no mention of huma abedin, no mention of mccain's statement. instead she focused on a new allegation. one that has more substance to it. a newly elected egyptian lawmaker was given a visa to come to the united states as part of a government delegation that met with national security counsel officials. now, he belongs to an islamist group that's been designated a terror group by the united states. a lot people, reporters and others, politicians have raised questions about how this guy got a visa, and why he was given a visa. the state department telling the "washington post" that they're

looking into the matter. let's talk about it now with dana bash who spent a lot of today trying to talk to michele bachmann also salon.com's wald. i understand you finally tracked down congresswoman bachman today. what happened? >> the good news is i can walk prtity pretty fast in heels, the bad news is michele bachmann can walk just as fast. she proved to be adept at avoiding my questions, but talking enough that i could barely get a question out. listen. senator bachmann -- >> i can't right now. >> can you do it with us later? >> i can't right now. i need to -- >> he said that. >> i know i'm. >> going after huma. >> i can't do it right now. >> can you do an interview with us later. >> yes i can but -- >> i've learned over the years trying to get members of congress to answer questions on the fly, and i've done it many, many times, if their not going to answer it, they're not going to answer it. but if a lawmaker tells me they'll get back to me that they just don't have time and they'll do it later, i try to take them at their word.

she didn't do that. her office said she didn't have time in her schedule. she only put out that statement you referenced which said her letters were being distorted. >> it is fascinating that she made no mention of huma abedin. she's basically seems to be taking a hands off on that. she has presented no evidence of that. you also ran into senator mccain after his condemnation, which is very rare for him to do. what did he have to say? >> i asked him what prompted him to take such an unusual step to go to the senate floor and condemn a member of his own party. and he told me he did it because he knows huma abedin personally, and he likes her. he felt like she was being maligned. but he also revealed to me that michele bachmann called him today and she explained she was genuinely worried about muslim infiltration of the obama administration. and mccain said he told her, look, huma isn't the problem. but i should tell you mccain isn't the only one to speak out. he's the most public, our old friend here at cnn ed rollins, he wrote a scathing piece where he called her extreme and

dishonest, he noted that bachmann had difficulty with her facts. and in this case he said she was downright vicious, and what she's doing is akin to mccarthyism. i can tell you that's what's in public. privately some top congressional sources have told me that bachmann is doing this as a fund-raising tool plain and simple. >> alex, despite you said this might play well with some in the republican base. >> it's interesting. michele bachmann's letter came out on june 13th. if you go back two years ago on june 6th, it was the first rally against the so-called ground zero mosque in lower manhattan, which became a huge election issue. really brought out the tea party and the right-wing fringe of the republican party. i think that's what is going on here. at least that's what bachmann was trying to do. i think she may have gotten over her skis and this blew up in her face. i think she was trying to keep this for the base audience. she didn't tweet about it or put it on her facebook page, but she

did go on a conservative radio show, kind of an obscure conservative radio show. so i think this was a message aimed at her base, trying to gin up anti-muslim fever before the election. and then it kind of blew up a little bit too big with these condemnations from mccain and rollins. >> you've been out on the forefront reporting on this for a long time and you have put a lot of focus on this. you should get credit for that. we talked about frank gaffney on this program, who seems to be the sole source behind bachmann and her colleagues claims. it's interesting, i remember when he was going after grover norquist. and that was condemned by a number of conservatives. there wasn't much there, but he was alleging grover norquist was basically trying to kind of get the muslim brotherhood infiltrating the american conservative movement. >> yeah. absolutely. he's been going after governor norquist for almost a decade. he doesn't care. he'll go after republicans, he

will go after democrats. he went after bush administration officials. he said the head of the cia had submitted to sharia law. so she is really shameless and he's been driven out of the elite in the conservative movement in addition to cpac and the american conservative union board, which includes john bolton and the head of the nra. real staunch conservatives. he was kicked out of a strategy lun lunch. but there's kind of an interesting dynamic of the tea party versus the establishment. where while he's persona nongrata with the establishment, people like michele bachmann and adam west and other congressmen still listen to him. he still has their ear. even some senior officials like jon kyl, the number two republican in the senate, used to sit on frank gaffney's board. so he still has a lot of juice in some aspects of the party, despite being roundly condemned by other parts of it. >> i should point out, he's been on the show before, but we really want to focus on, i mean, people can have whatever beliefs

they want. we're trying to focus on sitting members of congress and the allegations they are making. dana, is it -- it's pretty -- am i wrong, is it pretty rare for sitting members of congress to make these kind of allegations against individuals without having iron clad proof or any real proof other than, you know, her dead father 30 years ago knew a guy who helped his organization who was in a league with another organization? >> sure, it's very rare. and i think just as alex was saying, i think he's dead on, that this was probably not intended for a mainstream audience. that this was intended for her base. and as i mentioned before, many republicans on capitol hill have said to me as a fund-raising tool, she is very, very good at raising money from these -- i think you can call them fringe elements of the party, fringe elements of this country. and she wants to keep that going. and she sends out fund-raising

letter after fund-raising letter. even sent out one today, not mentioning this. but making it clear she wants to keep raising money, and she's got a democratic opponent who's going to beat her and she needs the conservative base to come to her. so yes, the answer to your question it is very rare. >> it's also interesting, alex -- i'm sure you've gotten these e-mails as well. i've been inundated by e-mails from people saying i'm supporting the muslim brotherhood because i'm concerned about her allegations. where does this go? do we know if the state department has responded? do we know if homeland security has responded to bachmann? >> we don't yet, but i think they do take these kinds of things seriously. she's a sitting member of congress. she's on the intelligence committee and they have to do their job and respond to these things but is this the best use of precious resources in the homeland security department? and i really doubt it. >> also, i think it bears repeating, a couple things. one, i don't think anybody is saying extremists would not like to infiltrate the u.s. government.

i'm sure, obviously jihadists would like to infiltrate the u.s. government if they could, they may even attempt to. but again, to make these allegations against individuals without any direct evidence. and alex, as you talked about, if you really believe this is happening,the best way to go about getting action on this, you know, going on conservative radio shows and putting this information out on your website? or is it actually in confidence and in confidentiality contacting security agencies and asking them to investigate? >> yeah, i think that that right there is the key point and that blows up this whole argument that this is a serious attempt on their part. they've been doing this for years. i talked to a guy today who was a bush administration official, he was in the department of homeland security. it stuck with him forever. that's the ploy. it's almost a google problem, like rick santorum had, where now every time somebody googles him, this is what comes up. >> i want to underscore one thing, anderson, that you pointed out at the top of the

show, which is really really important. this isn't just about politics, just about one member of congress going off and another trying to condemn her. this is about u.s. policy and the way the u.s. is perceived abroad, particularly in egypt. particularly those pictures of hillary clinton with huma over the weekend with protests. i talked to a senior administration official who said that is a very, very real concern. a very real concern that the u.s. is really confused about how to handle the muslim brotherhood and the whole idea that because of the internet and because these blogs do get out there, that people think that the u.s. is sort of in bed, so to speak, with the muslim brotherhood and the reality is there's a little bit of confusion with them versus the christians. really, it's 4ur9 hurtful. >> also, we need arab speakers who understand what's going on to work in our intelligence agencies. and this prevents -- who is going to want to work if suddenly you're a suspect because your great uncle knew somebody who knew somebody. i think it raises all sorts of questions.

i appreciate your reporting. dana bash, i know it's been a long day running around in those heels you've been talking about. thanks for that. let us know what you think. we're on facebook, follow me on twitter. @andersoncooper. up next, the debate within the republican party over whether or not mitt romney should put out more tax returns. we'll have that ahead. in ♪ [ breathes deeply ] ♪ this is where the dream begins ♪ ♪ i want to grow ♪ i want to try ♪ i can almost touch the sky [ male announcer ] even the planet has an olympic dream. dow is proud to support that dream by helping provide greener, more sustainable solutions from the olympic village to the stadium. solutionism. the new optimism.™ ♪ this dream

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whether you're getting new insurance or supplementing what you already have, call now and ask one of their representatives about a plan that meets your needs. so, what are you waiting for? go call now! we'll finish up here. raw politics tonight. a debate among republicans over mitt romney's tax returns, whether he should make public more than the two years' worth than he says

he's going to. lawmakers proposing members that would require presidential candidates to release ten years of returns. and candidates for federal office to disclose all foreign investments. mr. romney as you'll recall is facing plenty of pressure not just from democrats but from fellow republicans. watch. >> put out as much information as you can. even if you don't release 12 years' worth of tax returns, at least three, four, five. >> you should be as transparent as you can be with your tax returns. >> they always wonder whether it isn't better just to put it out there. >> put them all out now. >> well, that's kind of what i think. >> i just believe that people should release their tax returns. >> they should release the tax returns tomorrow. >> well, so far no sign of that. the conservative national review, which also says governor romney should release more returns interviewed romney yesterday. during that interview he says he's not enthusiastic about releasing any more tax returns for the obama campaign to distort and lie about. more raw politics with two republicans who disagree.

former george w. bush press secretary, ari fleischer, and also joining us gloria borger. so i know you and a lot of republicans think romney should release his tax returns and the campaign is saying fairly or unfairly, releasing more returns would be like handing more ammunition to the obama campaign. do you buy it? >> i absolutely buy that. i think it will be picked over, big things will be made. i don't think we're going to see anything new. i don't think any of the republicans calling for this think there is anything wrong that mitt romney has done. what we want is for the distraction to be over so we can get to the real issues, the big issues that the american people are interested in. this has become a ridiculous distraction and i do think it's taking a toll. again, i tell you i think there is absolutely nothing illegal or inappropriate that mitt romney has done. we're not going to learn anything new. he is a wealthy man who has been very successful. and he should embrace that. and we should get this over

with, take the band aid off, let's move on and let's start talking about the economy and let's start talking about jobs. we've been talking about this now for days and days and days. i would just like it to be over. >> ari, what about that? this drip, drip, drip, it's not just among media types on cable tv talking about it, as you know, it's republicans talking about it. >> if there's so much drip drip drip, why does it coming up dry dry dry and on the polls romney is going high, high, high. it's not a distraction except for the political class. the american people are not there. they're not focused on this issue. i remember in 1992 i worked for george bush's father against bill clinton and we tried to come up with every kind of ethical innuendo we could think against governor romney of arkansas -- against governor clinton of arkansas. nobody paid attention of the the issue is the same as it is now, the economy. it's not working among the public. the public really is not fixated on this issue. if he was going to do it

anderson in the cause of transparency and good government, the time would have been to have done it months and months ago. i think if he does it now it would with be a big mistake, because it would be such -- the press would be making too much of it. he's doing fine. >> ari, as you know, people are saying when he was returning to be mccain's vice president he gave many years worth -- i think 20 years' worth of tax returns to mccain. so if that level of transparency was important to be considered as vice presidential candidate, why isn't that level of transparency important to be a presidential candidate? >> you know, vice presidential potentials are asked a whole series of questions, not just about taxes. a lot of it embarrassing and a lot of it is personal and that doesn't get released. i don't think the standard is, what did you privately convey to somebody who may have picked you for a job. do we want everybody coming into the federal government to answer have you ever been faithful? is that part of the litmus test? that's a question that these guys get asked when they try to become vice presidential nominees. so no, anderson, i don't think that's the criteria, that he turned it over to mccain. i think the criteria is, is two

years enough? is this a relevant issue to determine who's qualified to be the president of the united states or not? and i don't think this is a cutting issue that should define what this campaign is about. i think most of the american people are with me on that. the pundit class, many of my fellow republicans are not. >> gloria, do you think this is having an impact? >> yeah, i do. i think it will eventually because it plays into the narrative of the obama campaign which says that mitt romney is a rich, secretive, outsourcing fellow who has secret, you know, offshore bank accounts. so i do think it plays into the narrative that is affecting his underlying numbers, that is perhaps his likability. but i talked to somebody who was involved in the vet for mitt romney for the mccain campaign. he couldn't recall exactly how many years of tax returns mitt romney gave them, but he also said, as mccain has said, they

didn't see anything terrible and that wasn't the reason that mccain didn't choose mitt romney. i do think, and let me just say this, that if he was going to release them, he should have done it right away. because now if he releases them, he's got a problem, because it looks like he's doing it under pressure, either from republicans or from the obama campaign. and we are going to pick over it like a dead carcass. the time to do it, when he should have done it, was early on. this is about mitt romney himself. he's a private person and he's running for president. and it's very hard to be a private person and run for the presidency of the united states. i think he's figuring that out now. >> we've got to leave it there. >> and -- >> i'm sorry, we have a lot stuff tonight. i appreciate it. in syria, dramatic day. bloodshed in bashar al assad's inner circle.

three of his top advisers killed today in an attack not far from assad's home. the conflicting reports about the explosion that killed them. violence reaches new levels in the capital of syria itself, damascus. a dutch reporter tells us what he saw today from damascus. o

a government agency caught spending more than 800,000 on a las vegas conference. you know that story. it's not the only wasteful spending we discovered. wait until you see what else they spent your money on when we continue. about once a month. drive around town all the time doing errands and never ever have to fill up gas in the city. i very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. last time i was at a gas station was about...i would say... two months ago. the last time i went to the gas station must have been about three months ago. i go to the gas station such a small amount that i forget how to put gas in my car.

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tonight's some are asking if the situation in syria has turned a new corner. with the violence reaching new levels in the regime's backyard, damascus now part of the battlefield. this video purportedly shot in damascus today. as always, we can't vouch for its authenticity because we're not there on the ground. at lease 102 people were killed across the country today including three top officials of bashar al assad's regime. one was his brother-in-law.

this is extraordinary. one was the brother in law, the deputy minister of defense. they were meeting in damascus not far from assad's home. the syrian calls it a suicide bombing. the opposition, the free syrian army says an explosive device was detonated by remote control. there have been reports of shell big government forces. these are some of the images we've seen of the damage in the capital. again, we cannot independently verify them. a dutch journalist named sandra van horn was in damascus when the syrian officials were attacked today. we spoke earlier. there are conflicting reports out of sear yria today about th exact cause of this bombing. syria media says it was a suicide bomb. they say it was planted. what's the latest you're hearing? >> a lot of gossip. news is often hard to come by in syria. and that's an interesting point today. the news we got through syrian state tv -- normally syrian

state tv is the last place you're going to look for news. because if something happens they will have a nice program on flowers, for example. so why did they broadcast almost live about what happened, why were the names of people killed mentioned through them? it's something that may not mean anything, but it's something out of the ordinary indeed. >> what is the regime's explanation of how this happened? because whatever type of bomb it was, it would be a major security breach. how did they explain their inner circle was able to be penetrated? >> well, they explained it as a terrorist attack. but basically, that's the way they address the opposition as foreign-backed terrorists. and they used it within the hour, the ministry of information was on the air, live on radio and television, addressing the nation basically saying that this will only

strengthen our resolve. we have been hit at the heart, there are martyrs to be mourned today. we will only get stronger. we will fight back and crush this terrorist cells that are operating in syria today. that's basically what he said right after the attack. >> i know you rushed toward the site of the bombing after it occurred. what was the scene like there? >> the scene was something i have never seen before. you expect chaos, you expect tense policemen and military. nothing of the kind. we were kindly requested to not enter the street. only people that lived there could go there. so we were driving around a bit, and people living like 40 meters away from the blast site, they were going about their business as usual. shops were open, cars were driving. people were chatting to each other. now, of course, in a normal situation, you go out of your car with your camera and ask people, did you hear anything? what did you hear? what does you see? that is something which is not allowed in syria. >> it's really strange. we obviously know fighting has escalated in damascus in recent days. what are you seeing and hearing in terms of activity among the regime and among the opposition in damascus? >> right now it's kind of quiet.

i went out just before we started talking and you could hear distant artillery fire and sometimes a little more close by military fire. of kalashnikov. but the scene has been bizarre throughout the day. black pillars of smoke rising almost in any direction, explosions, quite close to downtown. now, this morning i visited two suburbs in the northern part of the city. so parts which have been quiet for the last couple of days. we saw streams, hundreds upon hundreds of people leaving for the violence which already started at that time. but we saw as we drove further towards downtown, military vehicles waiting to enter. so that was one of the scenes we witnessed later that day. black smoke rising from that area. and that's in any suburb you look at right now. >> the assad regime was quick to appoint a new minister of defense. it would appear as if they're trying to project an image of stability. do you think people buy that?

>> i think if you bought it before, you will buy it now. i think if you doubted it before, you will seriously doubt it now. because whatever happened today, the opposition will feel emboldened by this and you can see that happening in a lot of the areas where the free syrian army is taking up arms. we know they are better organized now, they have better means of communication, better weapons, maybe, even. we don't know what they are capable of. but they feel emboldened right now. where that may lead to, nobody knows. >> sander van hoorn, please be care. . thank you for your reporting. tonight, new questions about how one government agency is spending your tax dollars. do you remember the videos that went viral from the general services administration las vegas conference? the one that cost $800,000? led to investigations, resignations, firings. wait until you see and what until you hear what else the gsa has spent your money on in another city. we're keeping them honest ahead.

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another keeping them honest report. more questions tonight about how the general services administration, or the gsa, has spent your tax dollars. you'll probably recall, this is the agency whose mission it is to oversee the federal agencies to control lavish spending. first came the extravagant las vegas con veference two years a. cost more than $800,000. it looked more like a vegas show. they went viral, congress was not amused, hearings were held, heads rolled at the gsa, the top administrator resigned. turns out las vegas isn't the only place where the gsa has been spending your money in ways with you may never have imagined. our drew griffin with a cnn investigation. >> reporter: it happened here at

the culinary center of kansas city. on a quaint straight in overland, kansas, where gsa employees did not just get a free lunch, they got to spend most of the day making it. >> cooking is not a mystery. everybody can learn it. >> reporter: it's all about what the culinary center zone video calls team building. teams make entries, they make desserts. what did the gsa employees get out of this? this is would be of those employees who says he's afraid to show his face because his boss will be mad. >> it was lunch. we had 25 minutes to get a recipe together, cook for 30. i think there were roughly 25 or 30 people there, and then we were critiqued along the way by the chefs at the institute on what we could do better. >> reporter: and those gsa employees got the whole day off real work to do it. >> reporter: so this was the day's activity, learning how to cook? >> yes.

>> reporter: and it didn't just happen once. since 2007, gsa employees came to the culinary center of kansas city nine times for these team building exercises. they cooked lunch, it cost you more than $20,000. that's the total amount for all of those cooking classes. granted, in the world of trillion dollar government budgets it's not a lot of money. but our insider says it is part of the free-spending culture that's gone on for years at the kansas city regional headquarters. >> there's a lot of what i would look at as as juvenile behavior when it comes to caring about what the taxpayers' money is used for. >> reporter: our investigation into spending at the kansas city office found not only did workers learn how to cook lunch, the gsa hired an etiquette

instructor to teach workers how to eat it. >> how to hold your napkin, use your knife, fork. >> reporter: he's not making it up. the inspector confirms she taught gsa employees about the place settings, the different courses. how they're going to be served. what to do with your napkin. how to butter your roll. to top it off, we also found that gsa's kansas city office awarded its workers with a $3,000 awards lunch, possibly to show off that newly-learned etiquette. when we began asking about this we were directed to washington, d.c. to the headquarters of the gsa, where we were told we could get answers in writing, but no one would be able to answer our questions on camera. so we showed up at this public ceremony back at the gsa regional headquarters in kansas city to meet this man. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> reporter: jason clums is the politically appointed regional

administrator of the gsa's heartland's division which covers four states. he's been in charge since february 2010. in charge for three of the cooking classes, the etiquette speaker and that $3,000 awards lunch. this is outrageous. people when they hear things like government workers going to cooking classes, and not just one, but many, many cooking classes over several years. why was that allowed to go on? >> it was the culture. i think it was the old culture of gsa and you saw it in the news that was generated out of the western region's conference. it was the old culture. >> reporter: why weren't you able to put a stop to it when you came into office? >> i think we've seen new leadership at the agency and that will effect my ability to put a stop to those kinds of things. but you're absolutely right, it's unacceptable. >> reporter: do you, as the administrator, have the power to stop that kind of stuff? >> i think when we see new policies come into place, there's more authority that's going to be given to regional administrators to stop things like that. >> reporter: do you not have the

power now? >> don't have it now and haven't had it. >> reporter: really? >> yeah. >> reporter: there's one more thing jason clums apparently didn't have the power to stop. >> stacy cruz, this is the ghost of gsa present. let's take a look at you in action. >> reporter: last year's holiday video contest. >> i'm the ghost of gsa past. ♪ it's another team-building exercise. the team that came up with the most creative video about efficiency in the gsa would win an ice cream social. all of what you are seeing was written produced, acted, taped and edited on federal government time. >> were these videos that would make people better employees? improve the systems? improve the efficiencies of the office? >> no, they were just for -- see how cute they could be would be my estimation. ♪ >> reporter: gsa employees used

to be able to watch the videos online, but when the news broke about that spending scandal in las vegas, that's when the holiday videos disappeared. clumb, who says he didn't know about the cooking classes couldn't use the same excuse when it came to the holiday videos. >> i was one of the judges. again, that was part of a culture that was -- it was pretty common throughout gsa. and absolutely something that is changing. i think you see a new day at gsa. >> reporter: gsa headquarters tells cnn in a statement, these events indicate a pattern of misjudgment which spans several years and administrations. the agency spokesperson went on to say that under the new gsa leadership, these events would not have been approved. and only light refreshments like water and pretzels would be allowed inside a federal facility at future team-building exercises. >> i think we see a new day at gsa. i think you see a culture shift. and you do see a new day. i'm very optimistic about that.

>> drew, how can there be any changes if the people in charge like this regional administrator don't have the power to stop the waste? >> that was one of our first questions, and the answer is he does have the power, and errson. he just didn't know it at time or misspoke. and that is a problem for the newly appointed acting administrator of the gsa. dan tangerlini, who finally agreed to talk to me, just this afternoon. were you surprised to learn that your regional administrator in kansas city didn't think he had the power to stop this kind of spending? >> yeah i'm surprised that he felt that way and in subsequent conversations with him he's said he's misspoke, but i wanted to make that clear. and actually, it was a good opportunity for me to get all the regional administrators on the phone and ask them if they felt they've been giving enough authority to stop that kind of spending. we need to get a message across that this isn't what gsa is about. people aren't coming to work for cooking classes. they're not coming to work for

awards or prices. they're coming to work for an important mission that's critical to serving our agencies that serve the american people. and so that's the trick for us, is to really build a better sense expectation of what it is we're going to do every day when we do our jobs. >> anderson, that's the new acting director. he has froze hiring, he's stopped bonus payments and canceled an upcoming conference at the gsa. and we'll see if he can change the culture there. >> we'll be watching. drew appreciate it. thanks very much. a relative of the two missing girls in iowa think they may have been kidnapped. a special fbi team is about to join the search. we have details on that ahead. [ breathes deeply ] ♪ this is where the dream begins ♪ ♪ i want to grow ♪ i want to try ♪ i can almost touch the sky [ male announcer ] even the planet has an olympic dream. dow is proud to support that dream by helping provide greener, more sustainable solutions from the olympic village to the stadium.

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i'm debra feyerick with a 360 builten. at least seven israeli tourists were killed in a bus bombing in bulgaria. about 30 other people were injured in the explosion outside an airport. in his first tv interview, george zimmerman apologized to the family of trayvon martin. the 17-year-old he killed he says in self-defense. zimmer month spoke with sean hannity on fox news. >> i do wish that there was something, anything i could have done that wouldn't have put me in a position where i had to take his life. and i do want to tell everyone, my wife and my family, my parents, my grandmother, the martins, the city of sanford and

america that i'm sorry that this happened. and still, no sign of two iowa girls missing for five days. now the mother of lyric cook says she thinks lyric and her 8-year-old cousin elizabeth collins may have been abducted. authorities continue draining the lake where the girls bikes were found. an fbi dive team is standing by with sonar equipment to search for the children once the lake levels are low enough. anderson will be back after the break. look at me, i'm swimming! somebody, get her a pony! [ female announcer ] the travelocity guarantee. from the price to the room to the trip you'll never roam alone.

tonight we begin with a very important question. when you think of david hasselhoff, what immediately springs to mind? perhaps you think of one of his television shows, "knight rider," "baywatch owe ". or if you're like us, he's first and foremost a singer. ♪ >> fabulous '80s song stylings aside, i think we can all agree that when it gets right down to it, the name david hasselhoff is synonymous with one thing and one thing only. iced coffee. that's right. at cumberland farms store in new england, david hasselhoff dares you to resist the lure of the store brand iced coffee. why they missed the opportunity to call it iced hoffey is beyond me, but still it's great marketing. there's just one problem, they're such a hot item, they're

disappearing fast. proving my theory, people love them some david hasslehoff cutouts. >> it's crazy. they come in, we probably get customers every night asking to buy the hasselhoff poster. >> people are not only asking to buy the hasselhoff poster, some are just brazenly stealing them. apparently at such a rate of frequency that the convenience store clerks have come to expect it. >> he ain't going to last the night. but it's still here. >> the company even gave a statement about this to our affiliate, whdh. >> cumberland farms says although we are flattered our customers have become attached to our iced coffee ads, we do not encourage theft. the hoff is there for all to enjoy. >> that's right, people, hands off the hoff, he's there for all to enjoy. like the sun, the stars, the gentle spring breeze. the point is, would you steal a rainbow? no, you wouldn't. maybe if you were in college and your friend's nickname was rainbow you'd have no choice.

>> one of my friends, his nickname at cool is hasselhoff. so we saw this sign and took it for him. >> okay. not to condone theft, but you have to admit, a life-sized decoration of hasselhoff, that's one sweet decoration for the dorm room. "early start" begins right now. breaking news. disaster at sea. dozens are missing after a ferry packed with passengers capsizes near a tourist hot spot. farms in crisis. we are live from the drought zone in indiana where they are hoping that congress will do something to help them and help them in a hurry. the hunt for a predator. surveillance video captures a man trying to abduct a 10-year-old from the street. there is a manhunt going on this morning in philadelphia for that suspect as we speak. good morning, everyone. welcome to "early start."

>> it is 5:00 a.m. here in the east. also this morning, george zimmerman in his first on-camera interview since the trayvon martin shooting, he was asked if he has any regrets. you'll want to hear what he has to say. and is there tension in the u.s. supreme court after that health care ruling? you will hear what justice scalia said about any possible bad blood. that's in that cnn exclusive coming right up. up first this morning, breaking news from tanzania where more than 30 people have drowned, over 100 more are feared dead after a ferry with nearly 300 people on board sank. about 150 people were rescued. but officials say there's not much hope for the passengers still missing. there were also 31 children on board. you are looking there at pictures of a little boy being saved. there were tourists on board as well. it's not clear if any of