and today, serve over 1 million meals a week. until every kid has built those life-long eating habits, we'll keep working. a german tabloid is reporting a rather shocking claim from one of andreas lubitz's apparent former girlfriends that may give insight into the germanwings tragedy. i just wanted to say that i'm incredibly grateful for what has happened for the justice i've received. >> the amanda knox saga it appears the final chapter has been written in an italian courtroom. more of her reaction. on the west coast, the puzzling new turn in the case of apparent kidnapping. police say it's a hoax. the alleged victim says it's all true. turmoil in the middle east. why saudi arabia's bombing runs matter to the u.s. and the

extent to which america might get involved. hey, there, everyone. high noon in the east, 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." new revelations into tuesday's crash of germanwings flight 9525. the german tabloid "build" spoke with a former girlfriend of co-pilot andreas lubitz who investigators believe intentionally crashed the plane. she said lubitz told her, quote, one day i will do something that will change the whole system and everybody will know my name then. nbc news has not confirmed this report. "the new york times" is reporting today that lubitz sought treatment for vision problems that may have jeopardized his ability to continue working as a pilot. german prosecutors believe lubitz may have hidden an illness from his employers, torn up doctors' notes including one excusing him from work on the day of the crash were found many his apartment. nbc news has confirmed the

airline will make a preliminary payment of up to $55,000 to relatives of crash victims to cover immediate costs. families could ultimately receive more. let's get the latest now from nbc's reporter who's near the crash scene in the alps. claudio, what's the latest from there? >> reporter: the recovery operation continues here what we know is that at this moment, there are about 30 investigators that were lowered from the helicopter there on that crash site. what they're doing is they are working on a grid situation, a grid -- working through the mountain combing every single angle or corner of that crash site. 15 of them are in charge of taking collecting dna samples that will then have to be matched with the dna samples that were taken and will be taken from relatives of the passengers and the other 15 are in charge of technicalities. they'll have to look into

collecting the debris, they'll have to look for the second black box which hasn't been found yet, the flight data recorder which tracks all the technical data from take-off to the moment of impact. that will be very very important for investigators because, of course there are allegations -- this is not yet confirmed, that it was even though it is believed that it was the co-pilot to fly the plane into the mountain you still need to rule out entirely the possibility that there was some kind of fault or technical problems with the plane. and only with that second black box you can do that. now, yesterday the investigators collected 600 dna samples which then will be matched with the families. but we heard some pretty harrowing and emotional reports about the 20 mountain police officers that are supporting and helping these investigators out there. of course they know this terrain better than anybody else. but they are used to looking out

for lost hikers in the woods or skiers involved in avalanches. they've never seen anything like it. this is, of course, a mass murder seen scene. and we heard that those who are left there at night about five of them setting up campfires to guard the place against in particular animals creeping in they are receiving psychological counseling because it's really taken a toll on them. >> you can imagine. i know you reported earlier on this broadcast, the extent to the devastation there, there are no bodies that remain intact. when you talk about 600 pieces of dna, 150 people killed that gives you just a slight indication. and they're still collecting. how long is this investigation going to take? how long will it take to recover all that's up there in the mountains? >> reporter: we heard that this is really going to take weeks rather than days. you can imagine. because of the impact because of the high velocity impact of that plane against that mountain, there's not a single piece of that plane that's left

intact. there are thousands and thousands of small pieces of debris. they will have to go through them all to see if there's anything that will help investigators in their investigation. of course the priority there is to bring back the bodies to the families so that they can be finally put to rest. but that is a harrowing, very very difficult operation, especially in particular because of we are conditions. it was very windy yesterday. that slowed the operation. it's a bit better now. but it will take weeks. >> claudio, thank you for the report there. jeff, welcome in. we are hearing more about the health of the co-pilot who it is believed intentionally brought this plane down. how can airlines go about certifying the health and well-being of their pilots? >> it's a difficult problem. in this case here's a guy who on the surface seems to be a happy, well-adjusted, successful guy.

he underwent screening -- psychological screening from his employer. and yet if he did what he appears to have done -- and i would emphasize this is by no means case closed -- but if he did, it's very troubling because he was examined. how can we make sure that a human being can not take some kind of action that seems so incomprehensible to us. >> absolutely. and we know german authorities found these torn-up doctors notes in his apartment that indicated he should not be going to work. is it someone's specific responsibility to make sure an airline is aware of a pilot's health? should a doctor be doing that? >> well that would require the rules to be changed because as it stands as i understand it currently, in germany, there is the issue of patient privacy -- >> right, like the hippocratic oath. >> of course.

and it falls on the employee to notify their employer if they're not fit for duty. of course there's a an issue if someone's not psychological fit, you could see how that would not work out. >> security protocols are in place to keep someone, a bad guy from forcibly entering that cockpit. in this case, that had deadly consequences. and you've got airlines across europe and also canada that are changing their rules to comply with ours. they ensure there are at least two people in the cockpit at all times. do you think that were it to have been in place for germanwings, might that have prevented this from happening? >> it might have. but contrarywise there have been cases in the past in which pilots have crashed planes into the ground while other people were in the cockpit. you get into a fundamental problem here. if you don't trust pilots anymore, if you no longer have that kind of bedrock faith upon which the whole system is

founded, you have a philosophical problem. who do you trust? >> i read your article for "the washington post." lufthansa, which is the parent company of germanwings, that has offered victims' families initial compensation of up to $55,000, up to -- i'm not sure what the criteria will determine how much they get. but what kind of liability might the airline face? >> the rules vary depending on various factors. different airlines can fall under different international conventions. and if you have the decision that the airline is liable due to negligence or what have you, the figures can get astronomical. i don't think at this point the airline is thinking about money primarily. i think they want to get to the bottom of it. we all do. remember there is an organization in france, the b.e.a. who has job it is to

investigate the crashes. we have the ntsb here in the united states. right now, we're hearing a lot of information from tabloids, hearing from the french prosecutor. it's going to take a long time for this incident to really be examined thoroughly and carefully so we can really determine what happened. it's a very strange case, don't forget. >> it sure is. unique situation. jeff, when you get on a plane coming up, do you feel safe? >> i do. this kind of crash unfortunately recently has gotten a lot of attention. it's still the saferest way to travel. >> jeff, thanks for weighing in. later on a report from the co-pilot's hometown in germany on what investigators found after inspecting his home. other news now, amanda knox says she's relieved after an italian court threw out her murder conviction once and for all. she spoke outside her family home last night after learning about the decision. >> i just wanted to say that i'm incredibly grateful for what has happened for the justice i've

received, for the support that i've had from everyone from my family, from my friends, to strangers, to people like you. you've saved my life and i'm so grateful grateful. i'm so grateful to have my life back. meredith was my friend. she deserved so much in this life. i'm the lucky one. >> an appeals court in 2011 cleared knox in the 2007 murder of her british roommate meredith kercher in pressure ya italy. it ordered her released after spending four years in prison. she returned to the u.s. then her acquittal was overturned. but friday's ruling overturns that conviction once and for

all. american astronaut scott kelly is spending his first day at the international space station. the soyuz capsule carrying him arrived there last night. he'll spend 342 days above the orbiting laboratory, twice as long as a standard mission. researchers will compare how scott kelly responds during the year to that of his twin mark who will remain here on earth. months in space are known to cause the loss of bone and muscle mass. four days remain until the deadline for a preliminary nuclear deal between iran and world powers. secretary of state john kerry continued meetings in switzerland. on friday an official said they were close to an agreement on a two or three-page agreement. let's go to the weather now. the cold temperatures here in the east some places will see a little snow. no joke there. and then in the west they're expecting more record heat. the weather channel's dr. greg

postel is here with the forecast. >> more snow is in the offing for the northeast. let's time it out this afternoon. early in the afternoon, we'll see snow in parts of new england. that's going to continue through the afternoon hours. a few inches in eastern massachusetts and perhaps rhode island will be coming your way. unfortunately if you're sick of winter, you'll have to wait at least this weekend and probably some more to go, i think. we're not done with winter yet. but by tomorrow morning with this particular event, should be offshore. but not before dropping about 3 to 5 inches there in parts of southeastern new england. even in eastern long island too. a couple of inches of snow possible all the way back to eastern new york state. this afternoon today in the southeast, below average pretty much everywhere by about 10 to 20 degrees. also in the northeast, no surprise there with the winter weather. boston, you may get up to 41 if you're lucky. we'll see if that verifies. but tomorrow morning, it's going to be cold below freezing almost everywhere here on the board. 10 to 15 degrees below average.

winter does not want to leave quite yet. alex, back to you. >> that's just great. thanks. the crisis in yemen, while the bombing intensifies, more questions about whether this is the beginning of a major regional war. and was it a hoax or a kidnapping? a mystery in california just keeps getting stranger. if you can manage devoting all of our resources, 24 hours a day on what i will classify as a wild goose chase, it's a tremendous loss. just stay calm and move as quietly as possible. no sudden movements. google search: bodega beach house.

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yemen's ousted president today directly challenged iran in his opening remarks at an arab summit in egypt, blaming it for destroying yemen and creating a regional crisis. the president's remarks come as saudi-led air strikes hit rebel

positions at and near the international airport there in sanaa. air strikes also targeted rebel positions in a number of the country's provinces. let's bring in mark ginsburg, former ambassador. with a welcome to you, mark why have the saudis entered into this situation? >> well, there's three overlays here. first is the proxy war being waged in the name of religion sunni versus shiite saudi arabia being the dominant most theologically pure sunni state in the region against iran the shiite state supporting the houthi rebels. number two yemen is on the border with saudi arabia and al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, which saudi arabia and the united states have been fighting are now going to gain more territory, not only at our expense but also at saudi arabia's expense. there is a domestic threat that al qaeda poses to saudi arabia. >> okay. but doesn't it appear that this is something of a civil war in yemen right now or do you think

that bleeding beyond the borders is what is the greatest concern? and does saudi arabia's presence exacerbate that? >> we can look at libya, we can look at syria and now we're seeing a third proxy war being waged in the region right now. and it comes down to the fact that there is enormous antipathy that is being played there. there's great fear. will this goes to power politics as well as religion. but most importantly, the issue here to me is what are houthi rebels trying to accomplish? these are shiite-denominated rebels trying to seize control of the country. in my estimation their seizure is only going to create another sunni/shiite war in the arabian peninsula. >> we see a bunch of gulf nations there committing ground troops, are you worried about a full-on war there, a ground war? >> absolutely. in fact what i'med about is that as iran continues

to support the houthi rebels and saudi arabia brings not only air force but also military boots on the ground you can have a direct confrontation between saudi arabia and iran in yemen. now, is that possible? absolutely. is it probable? it depends on how far this gets out of control. yemen right now is a country that is under control of three separate entityiesentities. you've got al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. you've got isis operating there now. and now you have the houthi rebels. and no central government. >> not surprisingly iran's foreign minister has spoken out against the air strikes by saudi arabia. let's take a listen to what he had to say. >> we have condemned them. we believe that they will only cause loss of human life. they have to stop. and everybody has to encourage dialogue and national reconciliation in yemen rather than making it more difficult for the yemenis to come together. >> what do you make of minister

zar zaraf's remarks? >> the fact of the matter is it is iran that is responsible for largely providing the houthi rebels the support that has overthrown a democratically elected, pro-united states government, anti-al qaeda regime in yemen. and iran is directly responsible for this. >> what does this mean for the community there throughout the middle east and does this extend for u.s. interests? >> it's so complicated. you've got so many chessboards being played in iran, iraq, syria. every country in the region right now has military involvement and some war or another in the region right now, except for oman on the arabian peninsula. for our viewer concerns the real issue here does this civil war lead to more al qaeda in the arabian peninsula strength? and here we are negotiating an agreement with iran and iran is largely responsible for helping to eradicate the most important base against al qaeda in the

arabian peninsula. >> so we're hearing that the united states may be willing to provide logistical intelligence support. is there any scenario under which you see it going beyond that? >> yes. here it is the united states almost trying to show saudi arabia that we're on their side in this while we're sitting with iran negotiating a nuclear agreement. there's a very strong possibility that the united states special forces would be involved because again, this is a question of al qaeda and the united states special forces were there in the first place and we had to remove them in the last few days. >> you talk about the iranian talks right now to talk about iranian nuclear issues in switzerland. that's supposed to have an agreement agreed to by tuesday with implementation a few months later, the summer. do you think this may have an impact on those talks right now? >> yes indeed. in fact -- well, i'm almost hoping they would. i'm hoping there would be a diplomatic pause until iran stopped its meddling in yemen. but the fact of the matter is as this escalates, our arab allies are going to be increasingly angry with the united states over any agreement that gives

iran more boasting rights and more authority to work in the middle east without the united states basically more or less holding iran accountable. >> thank you marc. >> thank you. the mystery deepens in california. police call a woman's kidnapping a hoax. but she says her ordeal was all too real. in small business you have to work hard, know your numbers, and stay focused. i was determined to create new york city's first self-serve frozen yogurt franchise. and now you have 42 locations. the more i put into my business the more i get out of it. like 5x your rewards when you make select business purchases with your ink plus card from chase. and with ink, i choose how to redeem my points for things like cash or travel. how's the fro-yo? just peachy...literally. ink from chase. so you can. this is the equivalent of the sugar in one regular can of soda. and this is a soda a day for a year. over an average adult lifetime that's 221,314 cubes of sugar.

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welcome back to "weekends

with alex witt." it is now time for headlines at the half. special k-9 units have been brought in to search the rubble in new york city where an apparent gas line explosion caused three apartment buildings to collapse. at least two people are missing and a third may also be unaccounted for. investigators warn a fourth building was badly burned in thursday's blast and it is at risk of collapsing. investigators say a boston police officer honored by president obama last year is in a medically induced coma after being wounded in a shootout. gunfire erupted during a traffic stop last night. the officer was shot just below the right eye. the suspect is dead. moynahan was honored at the white house in may for his role following the 2013 gun battle with the boston marathon bombers. and a school bus driver who safely got 35 children off this bus is being called a hero. the driver noticing smoke coming from the engine when she arrived at the school tried to put out the flames herself before fire crews arrived.

two children were treated at the scene but did not suffer any serious injuries. new developments today in the investigation of the crash of germanwings flight 9525. nbc news has confirmed the captain of the downed plane has been identified as patrick sandier sandier sandier sandierhimmer. german prosecutors believe that lubitz may have hidden an illness from his employers. torn-up doctors notes including one excusing him the day of the crash were found in his apartment. nbc's katy tur is in montabaur with the latest on the investigation. >> reporter: as recovery workers comb through the french alps german prosecutors are combing through the life of the man they say caused it all, co-pilot andreas lubitz. carrying boxes of evidence and computers from his homes in

dusseldorf and montabaur, they say they found evidence he was ill, including doctors' notes excusing him from work the day of the crash, notes he should have given to the airline, instead in pieces in a trash bin. the torn-up sick notes, says the prosecutor, support our assumption that he hid his illness. the prosecutor's office wouldn't elaborate on what illness the doctors' note excused lubitz for but a dusseldorf hospital confirmed he had been examined there in february and as recently as march 10th. though the hospital says they did not treat him for depression. today, germany's biggest tabloid is quoting a woman who claims to be lubitz's ex-girlfriend. according to the girlfriend lubitz told her last year one day, i'll do something that will change the whole system and everyone will know my name and remember. it's a claim nbc news cannot confirm. back at the crash site families mourn for 16 high school students, two babies mothers, fathers, brothers sisters,

daughters and sons trying to find peace now that the worst is done. >> i don't feel anger. i'm really sad for the father the parents of that young pilot. >> reporter: investigators are going to take all of this into account when they try to figure out why this happened and whether or not it could be stopped in the future. alex, back to you. >> nbc's katy tur, thank you for that. joining me now for more is aviation analyst jim tillman who spent nearly 30 years as a commercial airline pilot. we begin with this first question as you flew commercial planes for a long time is there anything specific that overall has struck you as you watched this story evolve? >> well, yes, to this extent. it seems like a lot of things that we have counted on in the past and still count on to this day found it possible to be

something we never thought would happen but it did. it was a shock that any airman any person who calls themselves an airline pilot would do some of the things that are being charged here. >> jim, if someone wants to commit suicide -- and, again, there's not been a mental profile of the co-pilot that we know for certain what was in his mind we may never know but if someone wants to commit suicide, how do you go about preventing that in a plane? >> i'm afraid i'm inadequate to answer that. i've never understood the whole idea about suicide. and i don't think that we have adequate tools right now anywhere to really predict what a person's going to do next. we don't even know what they're doing right now, what is in their head, what is in their heart. we don't have the facility for figuring that out. this guy seemed like a normal guy. it was just normal conversation

in the cockpit. and then, bingo, we go wacko. >> and on the cockpit voice recorder, you're not hearing rapid breathing, the kinds of things that if someone knew something terrible was about to befall them, we're not getting evidence of that. how closely should pilots be monitored? how do you draw a line between protecting a pilot's individual privacy and protecting the passengers' safety? >> well, that's yet another element here. if you scrutinize to a certain extent, that's okay. beyond that it becomes a stressful factor on its own. you introduce stress into the whole atmosphere by saying i'm looking to you now, you look a little weird to me. what is adequate to do that? the other pilot, the person you're sitting within just an arm's reach from may notice something that's an aberration and you have the mechanism to report that in a way that's not going to invade that person's privacy.

>> these safety measures that were put in place after 9/11, they may have helped cause this ultimately, certainly not intentionally so. but should we rethink those measures? >> i don't know that we need to rethink them. i think that there are some policies, procedures and protocols we might want to look at very carefully to see if we can prevent this whole business of being locked out of the cockpit. that part i think is there. but we don't need to throw the whole system out. the system has worked very well since 9/11. i think we might augment it with a little bit more scrutiny. but i don't know that we need to turn everything upside down. >> a lot of this maintenance on people's mental health and how their well-being is to the airlines, it's incumbent upon themselves to self-report. or if you're flying with someone and you say, this guy doesn't look well -- is it feasible to put pilots in pairings so you can really get to know someone? you may know what's going on in his or her life or is that just

from a schedule perspective and any other perspective like, no way could that happen? >> i don't think there's any realistic way to pair crew members like that. you're dealing with professionals here. and i'll acknowledge the fact that i have flown a number of hours with a person that i didn't think i'd want to go to lunch with. but we're professional. that's what we do. we do the job of being a pro in that cockpit. nothing short of that. and we don't have to be socially this or that. i just have to understand i have a role to play and so does that other guy. and we do that. >> i know you've done it very well over the years, jim. you speak for us well. >> thank you. >> later on the emotional impact this story has had on the public. that's coming your way in about an hour or so. in vallejo, california the mystery remains over the alleged kidnapping of a woman who turned up safe and unharmed two days later at her parents' home about 400 miles away.

denise huskins and her boyfriend claim she was taken from her home monday at 2:00 a.m. by at least two kidnappers. on wednesday, she turned up at her parents' home in orange county. police claim it was a hoax. but her attorney says it was not and wants to clear her name. >> she's emotionally and physically broken. and the fact that she's been designated as a suspect only hurts her further. >> joining me now, "los angeles times" reporter veronica rota who's been reporting on this. anything new emerging today? >> not much is emerging here today. seems like police and the fbi as well as her family have been pretty much quiet about everything. no new information has come out since wednesday and thursday. >> police have not made any updated statements after saying that it appeared to be a hoax. are police at all backing down from that? do you see evidence of them

maybe hedging what they'd said? >> not right now. honestly they have not spoken out since wednesday. it seems like they're interviewing her now. she went back up to northern california, is being interviewed by the fbi. investigators sat down with them on thursday apparently for hours. her attorney says she didn't do it. it's not a hoax. she was abducted and she's being revictimized again. >> veronica have police said what it was that led them to believe this was a hoax? have they been specific about that? >> they actually have. they said her boyfriend, aaron quinn, his story just didn't add up. it was too much of an incredible story for them to believe. and eventually they figured out there were some holes in his story. >> okay. here's another question. why would huskins make this up? any kind of a sense from police whether huskins might have acted, if it was a hoax, independent of her boyfriend?

>> no. they have not indicated anything. they've been very quiet about this incident. the fbi is looking at their financial records to determine if that was maybe a reason. they don't know. >> okay. if this turns out to be a hoax will huskins and her boyfriend face any criminal charges? >> police said charges could be filed for lying to police making up this whole ordeal if that is in fact the case. >> and the $8,500 ransom any explanation offered by police why such a specific kind of an odd number? >> it is a very strange number. no, no specific information offered by police. his attorneys say he's a physical therapist but he's not wealthy by any means. he owns a house. he has a job. but they don't understand. they're even confused by the fact that it's an $8,500 amount and not like some enormous amount. >> right.

as we get more, we'll bring you back. thank you so much veronica. >> thank you. senator ted cruz and the new revelations since announcing his run for the presidency. why is he signing up for obamacare? and what about his problems with rock music? some possible answers next. if you're running a business legalzoom has your back. over the last 10 years we've helped one million business owners get started. visit legalzoom today for the legal help you need to start and run your business. legalzoom. legal help is here.

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i believe in you. i believe in the power of millions of courageous conservatives rising up to reignite the promise of america. and that is why today i am announcing that i'm running for president of the united states. >> that's ted cruz this week declaring his intention to run for president in 2016. the texas senator making his announcement at the conservative christian liberty university in virginia. beyond that it has been a rather mystifying break from the gape for the tea party favorite. in the days after, he proceeded to announce he would sign up for

obamacare, a health care program he vowed to eliminate. he also revealed he stopped listening to rock music after 9/11 and started listening to country music. joining me now to talk about that and other headlines, leslie sanchez and jimmy williams, msnbc contributor. good to see you both. >> good morning. >> senator cruz leslie says he has no choice but to sign up for obamacare since his wife is taking a leave of absence from her job and as a member of congress he's required to join an exchange. he could buy private health care. does this strike you as odd or is he trying to make a bigger statement? >> he's very deliberate in what he does but he's taking a reasonable approach. he's not said he likes or doesn't want to end or repeal obamacare. but he was given some choices.

you want him to pay the tax, go on his wife's cobra? he's selecting the best choice for right now. i'm not defending it or not. but he's making it a very strategic choice. it could be part of a larger mission. but what is clear is he's going to move forward to repeal obamacare. it's going to be part of his platform. and i think he agrees with the 53%-plus that disapprove of this law and want to see it repealed or amended. >> where is he going to get his health care? he's joining up. doesn't this open him up to charges of hypocrisy? >> a lot of the folks on the left who don't like ted cruz will say that anyway. he's not taking the employer contribution he's entitled to as a member of congress. it's kind of splitting hairs here. fundamentally he needs health insurance for his growing family. he's responsible. he's doing that or paying the tax. and i think he's taking the responsible approach. >> before i get to jimmy, can i ask you about the country music

aspect of this? is he trying hard to please his constituency? >> we like country music. we're from texas. >> i do, too. it's great. but he's already from texas. country music is king down there. >> yeah, exactly. we were raised on country music in texas. i think the difference is, it was an answer that did make some people's skin crawl. i think for people that fundamentally understood the message that it was a time that brought a lot of people together, there were a lot of lyrics in country music that really spoke to many people -- whether he doesn't like rock and roll now, i don't know that that's a measure of whether or not he should be president. he's speaking to the point that it spoke to him. for people with a skeptical look at politics they'll say this is some weird way to coalesce the conservatives. but if you didn't like him, you never will. but it's an interesting message. and i thought it was very genuine. >> jimmy look there's no denying that he's a very intelligent man. we've heard reports of his i.q.

we know about the awards he's won. he's a very intelligent man regardless of whether you believe or agree with what he's saying. is there at all a chance that these moves might make his opponents underestimate him because they seem like missteps? how do you interpret all this? >> i interpret that he's not a reasonable person as leslie just said because he did shut the government down over obamacare. the fact that he hates lynyrd skynyrd and the doobie brothers i'm utterly fascinated by that. i know if he's going to stop listening to good old-fashioned american rock and roll and only listen to patriotic lee greenwood, wonderful move on him part and that will alienate him from the super duper majority of all americans. this is the problem i have with ted cruz. notwithstanding his intelligence because we all understand he is intelligent. i think he's maniacal.

the one thing he hates most in the world he just signed up for. he didn't have to. the employer contribution part, they got rid of that part. the idea he couldn't go onto the open market and buy health insurance like anybody else could in america is astonishing to me. so the theory that he signed up for obamacare, again, he shut the government down over this one -- >> wasn't it "green eggs and ham"? >> yes. he read that on the senate floor. that makes him ready to move into 1600 pennsylvania avenue. i just don't get it. maybe because i'm a big old liberal. but if he wants people to vote for him, if he wants independent women to vote for him, he's going to have to get his story straight on why he bought obamacare and why he shut the government down over obamacare and why he hates the doobie brothers. >> let's go to the hillary clinton e-mail controversy. republican congressman trey gowdy claiming she wiped her e-mail server clinton.

her attorney maintains the state department has all of clinton's relevant work e-mails from her account. jimmy, do you deny there's anything sinister here? but might this raise suspicion, wiping this clean? >> that's trey gowdy's assertion and it's not true. secondly mitt romney did exactly the same thing when he left the governorship of massachusetts. in fact, he destroyed the hard drives of the very computers that were taxpayer-funded by the people of the commonwealth of massachusetts. and no one said anything. same thing for scott walker. same thing for rick perry. same thing for jeb bush. i don't know why we're actually having a conversation about hillary clinton's personal e-mails. i'm happy to have a conversation about her professional e-mails of which she's turned over all of them, by the way, to the federal government and even the ones they already had that were sitting on their servers.

>> this is another case of political jujitsu by the clintons. it's called hypocrisy by the clintons. >> why? >> there's a long history going back to the '90s of -- >> i know i know, they killed dick foster. >> don't talk over me. there is nobody who's going to look at this and think that's a reasonable thing to do. it continues to compound the narrative that the clintons are going to do whatever they need to do to manipulate this political election. put her as the front-runner. i think republicans are excited about that. we're going to continue to uncover these suspicious actions and let the truth speak for itself. >> i'm all for the truth. the truth is fabulous. >> leslie essentially answered the question i was going to ask. good to see you both. >> thank you. the outrage in indiana over a new law some say is an invitation to discriminate against gays and lesbians. that's in our next hour. you could sit at your computer and read all about zero-turn mowers. click. scroll. tweet.

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the germanwings crash is prompting calls for a third pilot to be on all flights. this would ensure at least two pilots in the cockpit at all times. >> created barriers to prevent bad guys from getting into the cockpit. and unfortunately now this type of event shows that the bad guy is already in the cockpit and we can't get to him or her to stop them. >> luke hurst has just written about this ponltssibility. and luke joins me now. we've heard a lot about the rule of two which is if the pilot leaves the cockpit, a flight attendant stays in the cockpit with the other pilot. airlines have adopted this rule of two. lufthansa has also adopted it. other european airlines rushing to incorporate it into their plans as well. you've talked to people in the aviation community. do you think this will become adopted worldwide? >> well it seems like a very

logical move. it's something that the aviation authority in the u.s. has, i believe, required of u.s. airlines -- airlines in the u.s. for quite some time. it seems perhaps a bit odd that some european airlines haven't had this policy lufthansa and germanwings didn't have this policy in the past obviously after what's happened they've said they'll be incorporating that immediately. so it seems like it would be very odd for an airline not to adopt this. >> has the question been asked and answered as to why these airlines did not implement it before now? >> no. the guidelines from the european aviation safety agency previously stated that pilots and co-pilots should -- if they have to leave the cockpit, they should come back as soon as possible. they should only leave for the exact amount of time that they need.

so i suppose airlines were just following those regulations. >> yeah. given the publicity around this horrific incident luke what is the airline community telling you about the rule of two's possible impact on passenger confidence? are they discussing that? >> i haven't really heard much about that. one thing to bear in mind is that if you then have a member of the cabin crew going into the cockpit, you have one less person looking after the rest of the flight. so i suppose that is something that passengers may be taking into account when they look at this. but i think overall passengers would be -- would feel more comfortable knowing there isn't just one individual on the flight deck at any given time. >> i think you're right, luke hurst. thank you for joining us. the new report about the eyesight of the co-pilot in the germanwings crash, that's coming your way at the top of the hour.

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a puzzling picture, new reports emerge about the co-pilot in that germanwings crash in the alps. especially about his eyesight. i'm so grateful and i'm so grateful to have my life wac. >> heartfelt words. amanda knox finally free from suspicion. but is she still haunted by her ordeal? sign of the times, a new freedom of religion law raises an alarm by those who feel it will infringe on their rights. and new views on steve jobs. how you might change the way you think about him. good day to you. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." here's what's happening out there. new revelations today in the investigation into the crash of germanwings flight 9525.

nbc news has confirmed the captain of the downed plane has been identified as patrick sonderhimmer, he was among those killed when co-pilot andreas lubitz is believed to have intentionally downed the plane. it is hoped the flight data recorder will give investigators new insight on what happened on that plane in the moments before the crash. a german tabloid spoke with lubitz's former girlfriend. and he told her, one day i will do something that will change the whole system and everyone will know my name then. nbc news hasn't confirmed this report. nbc news has confirmed the airline will make a preliminary payment of up to $55,000 to relatives of crash victims to cover some immediate costs. families could ultimately receive more. let's get the latest from nbc's claudio lavanga near that crash

scene in the alps. the recovery will soon come to a close today, right? >> reporter: the sun is setting here in seyne-les-alpes. it's a very difficult operation, especially in very windy conditions such as in the last couple of days. what they're doing there is 15 of them are dna specialists. they are trying to collect as much dna samples, as many as they can from the body parts. investigators haven't found a body that is intact because of the violence of that impact. and then they will try to match that dna with of course the dna samples left by the families to identify the victims. the other 15 are recovery specialists. they will be looking through the thousands of pieces of debris very small debris that may help

investigators to rule out the possibility of a technical fault, for instance. but the one thing they'll be looking at is the second black box, the flight data recorder -- it's only that that can rule out the possibility. let me just insist that the german investigators believe and are almost sure that it was the co-pilot that flew the plane into the mountain range. but it's not confirmed yet. it could be even the french newspapers "le figueroa" say they need to be open to another hypothesis. in the meantime the families keep coming here at seyne-les-alpes, they are laying flowers in a makeshift memorial set up in a small village not too far from here with a view to the crash site. there were some family members could from colombia and japan. and many more are coming every single day here alex. >> and, claudio, i think our

director, barry k give us a look, maybe an aerial view of just the incredible widespread destruction there. is that why it is so hard to find this data recorder? do investigators even know the exact place where that plane hit the mountain? >> reporter: yes there are thousands of pieces -- thousands of small pieces of debris just scattered on a ravine. that's the problem. it's a very dangerous place to work from for the investigators. they said today that there are rocks falling. it's very slippery. you need to move in a grid formation from the top of the mountain to make sure that every corner of that crash site is calmed. those pieces and body parts and remains are scattered all over the place. this makes the recovery operation very very difficult. and we know that it will take certainly not days but weeks, if

not months. >> claudio, thank you so much. appreciate that live report. joining me in studio jay rollins who previously served as a u.s. navy pilot and flight instructor. what we're still looking for, this flight data recorder, what kind of information do they want to get from that? >> they want to confirm what they already suspect, that the aircraft was deliberately descended from a cruising altitude and deliberately pointed towards those mountains. in order to do that they need to double-check the telemetry that comes off over other black box. >> you're up at a cruising altitude of about 38,000 which would be normal. and it allegedly was programmed to go down to 5,000 feet in elevation. you've seen these alps. they're incredibly tall. and it would look that that would be intentional. but what does that feel like over that period of time? do you think that there was a definite sense that things were going down in a very precarious way for the passengers on board?

>> well just to be clear so that the audience understands, when we say descending down to 5,000 feet we're talking about the elevation over the water. so if the mountains are at 10,000 feet and you set it for 5,000 feet of course, you're going to hit the ground. with respect to what the passengers see outside of the windows, at first, they probably would just think it was descending for whatever reason because it wasn't so great a descent as to raise alarm. but it was a fast descent. but as the aircraft approached the mountains and continued to descend, i'm sure it would have gotten extremely chaotic. and those in the front of the cabin seeing the pilot trying to get back inside -- >> horribly frightening. take me inside the cockpit. can the co-pilot -- do they have to reach over to where the pilot is or is everything automatically shifted in the absence of that pilot who's left to go to the bathroom or

whatever reasons? >> you mean in terms of control of the aircraft? >> uh-huh. >> the aircraft is set up so that either pilot can fly from his position without any great discomfort. the common equipment is placed in between. and then both pilots have a repeat of the instruments in front of them and then along the right-hand side would be where the flight control is on this particular aircraft. both of them have that. so either pilot does not have to reach over anything. >> so the prospect of bringing a second person into the cockpit, would that person a flight attendant, would that person assume the seat of the pilot? obviously not touching the controls. or is that a room for someone to just stand there? >> it can happen either way. most airliners have what we call jump seats that are just behind the captain and co-pilot's seats. so generally speaking a flight attendant would take just one of those seats. >> so the prospect of having a

third pilot on board now to avoid a situation like this in the future do you think -- would a third pilot sit in that jump seat throughout the flight or someone given a passenger seat and brought in? >> that's a good question. i think that isn't clear exactly how they would do it. i can tell you on long overnight flight that is go overseas they have a third pilot mainly for crew rest. and for take-off and landing, that third pilot sits on one of the jump seats i told you about. and they're able to assist in the lookout and looking over their shoulders to make sure they're not missing something. same thing for landing. but as soon as they get up to cruise altitude. that pilot or whichever one the captain decides will go back and take a rest break and they rotate like that. >> so your experience a very seasoned commercial airlines pilot yourself talk about the health checks that you had to go through and pass to become a

pilot and also any kind of mental health checks once you got the license and the ability to go and work for that airline? >> well there's a lot to say because i started out as a navy pilot. so i went through extensive psychological, physical tests beyond -- almost like what an astronaut might do. so they know you very well. you've gone through all of this physical training in the navy. you fly aircraft. you are given clearances. you're well well-vetted. so when american eventually hired me a lot of that information they knew i was already vetted. but they still have their own procedure. it was one of the most thorough physicals that i've ever had. psychologically, i think that it wasn't so much that as it was security and that sort of thing. you get observed through the years what type of person you are, how calm-natured or whatever. people know. >> yeah. i was told to wrap but i want to ask this question.

we're told you have to self-report. if you're not feeling well. does that also include in you're flying with someone and that someone duntdoesn't seem right to you -- do you pause knowing that it may be difficult for them to take a note like that on their record? >> you self-report. but i remember a clear directive from the company saying if someone comes to work who looks like they've been drinking all you have to do is say, the captain is sick, take him off the schedule. >> jay, thank you for your insights. let's go to the conflict in yemen which is spiraling out of control despite saudi-led air strikes. in a call to the saudi king president obama says the u.s. is standing behind the saudi-led coalition. nbc's kristen welker joins us from the white house. kristen, what more can you tell us about this call and the kind of support the u.s. is providing to the saudis? >> reporter: good afternoon. first to that phone call we know that president obama reaffirmed the united states'

friendship to saudi arabia its support to saudi arabia particularly in this effort to beat back those iran-backed houthi rebels who have pushed out the current president. president obama emphasizing that the u.s. supports saudi arabia's efforts there. it's being joined by ten other countries. in terms of the actual support that the u.s. is giving to saudi arabia, here's how a spokesman describes it. quote, while u.s. forces are not taking direct military action in yemen in support of this effort we are establishing a joint planning cell with saudi arabia to coordinate u.s. military and intelligence support. for saudi arabia this is really a proxy war with iran. saudi arabia feeling as though its security and regional interests are being threatened by the fact that these iran-backed houthi rebels are advancing in yemen. but the united states has deep

interest in yemen as well. this is where al qaeda in the arabian peninsula is based, aqap, the u.s. sees that as the biggest terror threat. that's where the underwear bomber was trained, where one of the "charlie hebdo" shooters received weapons training. so this is a big concern for the u.s. and of course president obama had said that yemen was a counterterrorism success story. this is where the united states has launched a series of drone strikes which, by the way, were backed and supported by president hadi who's now been driven out. now that he's been driven out, that has significantly undermined the u.s. counterterrorism efforts. and there's a lot of concern that as yemen sort of careens towards a civil war, you'll see a broader sectarian war throughout the middle east. so this is taking up a lot of discussion time here at the white house. president obama golfing in florida this weekend. but will undoubtedly continue to get briefed on the situation in yemen. alex? >> comprehensive kristen, as

always. thank you very much from the white house. time is running short when the nuclear negotiations with iran and there is concern today about an underground nuclear plant that may be allowed to continue operating. that's next. and it's a stark reminder of the high cost many cities pay to attract and keep professional sports. and now telcos using hp big data solutions are feeling the love, too. by offering things like on-the-spot data upgrades an idea that reduced overcharge complaints by 98%. no matter how fast your business needs to adapt if hp big data solutions can keep wireless customers smiling, imagine what they can do for yours. make it matter.

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now to the growing outrage over indiana's new religious freedom law. critics say it will allow businesses to use their religious beliefs to discriminate against gays and lesbians. this is a live look at thousands starting to gather at the statehouse to protest that law. joining me from indianapolis is matt mccutcheon from our nbc affiliate. what are you hearing about this rally? >> reporter: we expect 3,000

people right here on the south side of indianapolis's statehouse to protest the legislation passed earlier this week. many people speaking out saying they are fearful of what this means for the lgbt community and other minorities with the religious freedom restoration act. this all comes as the governor signed this into law on thursday and then next week we expect thousands of people to be here for the final four packing the city as well. many people have taken to social media asking the questions, will we be welcome in indianapolis and in indiana at the various restaurants and bars and hotels all while many of those businesses themselves are putting stickers in the window saying we welcome and support and love everyone. there's a mix of back and forth with this recently passed law. at the same time noticing there are some businesses speaking out in support of the law. for example, we have a custom leather manufacturer who says he feels comfortable about this law because he can turn down orders. he has a very faith-oriented background. he can deny orders that say

things like "i love satan" and says he can turn those orders away. he said he would like the protection his business gets. but the boycott indiana campaign that continues on social media as a major concern for locally and family-owned businesses, for example, a customer in california sent a letter to an indiana wine maker saying because of the action of lawmakers, i won't be able to support your business. so there is a concern going forward companies, especially families, could be taking a hit from this legislation. again, a major rally expected here despite our cold winter-like weather and spring. a major rally expected here at the statehouse later today. >> matt mccutcheon, thank you for that. with just four days to go before the deadline, international leaders have descended on switzerland in hopes of clearing final hurdles to a nuclear deal with iran. the country's negotiator denied report that is an agreement is nearly in hand. and the head of the iranian nuclear agency told the state news wire that one or two issues have become twisted.

joining me now, the president of the plow shares global security foundation and author of "nuclear nightmares." joe, welcome back to the broadcast. we're hearing conflicting comments from the negotiator. the french foreign minister said these talks have been long and difficult. we've advanced on certain issues, not yet enough on others. what are you hearing? >> i'm hearing that the talks are in a very intensive phase. right at this hour secretary of state kerry is meeting with his european counterparts to coordinate their position. the french have raised some concerns. those will have to be reconciled. and then later on today, they'll be prepared to go back into meetings with the iranians. there is some speculation they could arrive at a deal as early as tomorrow. but most people expect this to go down to the wire. that is not until midnight of tuesday, that would be 7:00 p.m. eastern time. >> would certainly reflect the tense tenor you're talking about there.

there's a new development i want to talk about. the future of this facility that's been used for uranium enrichment. the a.p. reports that the u.s. may allow iran to run hundreds of centrifuges there but nothing that could lead to a bomb and they must keep it open to inspectors. explain the importance of this particular facility. >> sure. iran has its centrifuges, the machines used to whip around uranium gas and enrich it so they can use it for fuel and of course our concern is they not use those certain centrifuges to make bombs. a few months to make it for fuel. a year or so to make it into a bomb. that's what you're worried about. most of the machines are in an underground facility but some are in this facility a couple hundred at fordo. u.s.

we have wanted to take all the machines out of that facility. the iranians are balking at that. there may be a creative compromise. let them keep some of the machines but they cannot be used to enrich uranium. so no uranium gas goes in. you can use centrifuges for other scientific purposes. for example, to enrich or separate out isotopes of zinc or various other elements. if they use them to separate zeon, they could be enriched into uranium. but metallic substances like zinc would contaminate the centrifuges and probably couldn't be used for uranium enrichment again. so this actual issue is one of the things they're bringing down to the wire. it's one of the difficulties they want to resolve. >> they want to resolve this, but as you're well aware, joe, all of this the entire deal rests on international monitors able to go into fordo and make

sure they're complying with what's been agreed to. do the prospects there worry you? >> i think actually this is the area where we're likely to get the most con suggestions from the iranians. this is what susan rice said. the whole approach is based on distrust and verify. and the iranians have been willing to give on this issue. right now, for example, as a result of the interim agreement, we already have more inspections on iran than we've ever had before. we have inspectors with daily visits to these facilities monitoring carefully. and they've assured us that iran is in compliance with the restrictions and the rollbacks that have been in place for the last year. what we're talking about is intensifying those, an unprecedented level of inspections, including what are called anytime, anywhere demand inspections. that will be key to whether the public and the congress will support this agreement. >> you know, joe, i'm looking at this piece in which you were

quoted this week. you said to effect that this deal could be the beginning of a detente with iran and could change the relationship for years to come. what would that look like and would it anger our sunni saudi arabian friends? >> this is where i think the greatest threat to the talks is not what's going on in switzerland. i think we're very close. it's what's going on in the arab peninsula which you were just reporting on. part of the objection to the u.s. making a deal with iran is not from our saudi and gulf state allies. it's not really about the nuclear program. they're concerned about that but they're more worried about iran's growing influence in the region. its support for the yemen rebels, for example. its support of assad in syria. if this warfare intensifies in the region -- in the arab peninsula, you might see the saudis digging in their heels. that might be a bigger obstacle than even israeli objections or congressional objections. >> joe, we'll be talking again. thanks so much.

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ink from chase. so you can. 15 years ago this week that was seattle's king dome meeting its demise by way of that implosion. but only now has king county collected enough special taxes to pay off the debt from that stadium. the money to pay off the bonds will actually be held until the end of the year before that final debt is paid off. and speaking of debt we're about 2 1/2 weeks away from tax day. that dreaded april 15th irs filing for income taxes. and the perfect storm is now in place to make this tax season more miserable than ever. budgetary cutbacks, more complicated tax code fewer resources for help and an increased likelihood for scams just a handful of reasons you

need to get started on your taxes as soon as possible. if you haven't done them already. for more let's bring in sharon epperson. even the irs commissioner john koskinen predicts a miserable tax season this year. and he used that word when he recently said that 47% of phone calls will likely go unanswered. those that do get through will have an average waiting time of 34 minutes. what is going on here, sharon? >> well you outlined it very well. it's all about budget cuts and not really having the personnel there that they've had in recent years. talking about 13,000 employees that have lost their job there is at the irs over the last four years. and budget cuts that total somewhere around $850 million. so when that happens, you don't have the personnel. you don't have the technology to really get questions answered efficiently. that means taxpayers are going to suffer. >> why haven't they put any measures in place to offset the cutbacks? >> it's difficult to do so when

you don't have the money or the people to do it. there are a number of folks there that are willing to answer those questions and able to answer those questions but they can only do so much with the personnel that they have. what they're now telling a lot of taxpayers to do is hey go to irs.gov and look online search on the database right there for your questions. a lot of the questions can be answered pretty simply. the one people love the most is, where's my refun? you can go to irs.gov and put in those words. it will take you right there and you can figure out when it's coming and how much you're going to get back. there are other simple things like, you may need a transcript or other things that you can go online -- questions that you might have about what deductions you might be eligible for. again, the irs is saying the good news is they've seen their online traffic go up about 11% from last year. so people are accessing the website. they're not getting to talk to a real person but they are getting some of their questions answered. >> terrible timing for this because the tax season and filing has become so much more

complicated. and this year, i know you have the affordable care act, you have to report as to whether or not you had health insurance. but i'm curious about scams. a number of people falling victim to them. how can people avoid falling prey to these tax scams? >> the one thing is you want to do your tax return if you do it yourself, from a secure site. and you want to make sure that you're not using the wi-fi at the local coffee job to file your tax returns and put in all your personal information. that's key. if you're working with a tax preparer and you're sending documents back and forth electronically, make sure it's encrypted and there's some way that -- there's a firewall some protection that you have as you're doing that. and the other thing to keep in mind is that you just really want to make sure that you are keeping that information as confidential as possible. so the very few people that are doing the pencil and paper returns, they need to make sure they're doing it somewhere where people aren't seeing it and they're sending it in a way that is going to be as secure as

possible, certified mail or something like that. >> i'm inclined to have you do my taxes. >> i have to do mine first. >> thank you. that crash in southern france is raising new questions about who's in the cockpit and how fit they are for the job. how invasive should pilot background checks be? take some time. and her sensitive stomach didn't make things easier. it was hard to know why... the move...her food...? so we tried purina cat chow gentle... ...because it's specially formulated for easy digestion. she's loved it ever since. and as for her and ben... ...she's coming around. purina cat chow gentle. one hundred percent complete and balanced for everyday feeding of adult cats.

welcome back to "weekends with alex witt." here's what we're learning today about the crash of germanwings flight 9525. nbc news has confirmed the identity of the plane's captain as patrick sonderhimmer. new questions being raised about the menlt health of co-pilot andreas lubitz who has believed to have deliberately crashed the plane. search-and-recovery teams continue to scour the french alps for the unrecovered flight data recorder. the crash of flight 9525 is raising new questions about mental fitness for pilots. with a thank you for being here

with us we've been talking a lot about pilot stress. what are the specific dangers to mental and emotional health for pilots? >> there are -- specific dangers would include the sleep deprivation issues and the intense responsibility that's included. but i don't think that's as much of a concern and as all of this can create in the public in terms of fear and so forth. i think that this is an extremely rare, isolated incident. most people with a mental health issue are not at all dangerous. and this is a very rare occurrence. and in terms of pilots, this is a very unusual event. so my concern is very much that people are going to be made much more afraid than is necessary based on all of this coverage. >> take that further. how is that going to manifest itself? people will be afraid to fly or generally carry around a fear with them or what?

>> not only will people be afraid to fly and people will work through that and obviously have over the years when there have been different crashes. but the stigmatization of mental health could prevent more of a problem and an impediment to seeking care by pilots. >> it needs to be said and what you're saying is suffering from depression, it's believed mr. lubitz was suffering from depression, that doesn't turn someone into a homicidal maniac pilot. >> not at all. >> no correlation there as well. >> and depression is not this one thing, this one disease or something that people have. there is a likelihood that any of us could have an episode of depression at some point in our lives. and there's a big difference between that and it's all on a

continuum continuum. so a severe mental illness is something very different. >> i was going to ask you about the victims' families. how do they deal with this tragedy? >> that's more of what i do on a day-to-day basis is treating people who have been through a trauma like this and different types. and i would say that seeking therapy, seeking support can be quite beneficial and people can recover after such an event. but in the moment of course these poor families are not feeling that way at all. it's very devastating and it seems like their lives have come to an end as well. and i think we really should focus some more on the survivors' needs versus this very rare and isolated event. because individuals go through trauma all of the time. and being able to seek appropriate counselling and

should be encouraged. >> absolutely. totally agree with you. seek out the help and ask for it when you need it. doctor, thank you for weighing in appreciate that. >> thank you. let's go to a story that played out over two continueents. after ten hours of deliberations, amanda knox and her boyfriend were cleared from the murder of her roommate meredith kercher. knox thanked supporters and paid tribute to kercher. joininging me is ann bremner. since everything went down yesterday, have you had a chance to speak with her? >> i have not spoken with her. i've been texting with her and her family and everybody else. it's just been an amazing day yesterday. i think the quote was "over the moon" about this and her family. >> surprising to some of us amanda said she would like to return to italy someday to visit.

this ordeal has no doubt haunted her. what has she told you about the psychological impact this had on her? >> i think she's a very steady young woman. she puts one foot in front of the other every day. she did when she was in prison here through double triple jeopardy, potentially quadruple jeopardy in this case. but i think she tries to find out how other people are doing. she wants her family and friends to be okay. so she hasn't talked a lot about it except for in her book so far. it's got to be a horrible, horrible experience. and i would think kind of a ptsd kind of experience at the end of the day. but she, i think, wants to make sure everyone else is okay, like i said. but i think it will take years to get through this. >> you're a criminal trial attorney. i'm curious. what do you think compelled the court to overturn her conviction once and for all? >> i think they did the right thing. i think they just decided finally to do the right thing. this was the same court that reversed her acquittal and sent it back for a third trial, the

exact same high court of italy came out yesterday and did exactly what was right. there was no hair no forensics, no fibers, no evidence of anything about amanda knox to connect her to this case ever. they finally at the end of the day did it and they did the right thing. >> so that begs this question when you think back to the start of this investigation, anne what role do you think the italian media played in pushing this case forward for those two? >> it was a huge role. the hearing was closed for a year. it was a pretrial hearing to decide whether they would be charged. that would happen in 72 hours in the u.s. the media had all kinds of things about a she-devil, a sex slave -- all those kinds of things. at the end of that hearing, the whole atmosphere in the news was against her and it was hard for her to turn that around. >> absolutely. >> the missing piece here may be, though, justice for meredith kercher's family, is that still

unsettled despite you have that one man sitting in jail for her murder based on the voluminous dna evidence that was present. >> i think in this case there has has been justice that was reached at long last and delayed yesterday. but the fact is for the family it's going to be very very difficult because it's played out the way it has. and they've been convinced by the prosecutor these were the guilty parties. but only one person is guilty. he's in jail. he did a fastrak trial at the time of the pretrial hearing and that's why he got a deal in the case for 16 years. and he is in jail. he's where he should be. and that is justice at the end of the day. not enough justice, of course, for the family. but that is the justice in this case. >> anne bremner, good to see you. >> good to see you. the fighting in yemen, how far should the u.s. go to aid saudi arabia and what could go wrong? that's next. when i'm shopping for a used car, i want to be comfortable. i don't want

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we have new video coming in of heavy fighting this morning in tikrit where the iraqi army and a remaining contingent of shiite militias are grasping for new ground. the battle's become a microcosm for iraq itself. the government not wholly in control. iran pulling the strings and in the skies above, the necessary but not always welcome u.s. airpower. joining me now is acting director for homeland security and counterterrorism at the center for strategic and international studies. stephanie was previously an officer at the u.s. embassy in baghdad, before that serving at the department of defense. are we being impatient or do the u.s. and iraq need to change their strategy to retake tikrit? >> that's an excellent question. in fact we've been trying to get into tikrit for the last three to four weeks. letting the shiite-supported militias take the lead it was very telling that several days

ago the leaders in baghdad asked the u.s. to conduct some air strikes in order to make some headway, to get into tikrit and then perhaps move on to other isis strongholds in the country. >> so a lot of experts are saying iraq's troubles with isis started because the shiites -- effectively, iran had all the power despite the attempts at equality, not much has changed in the leadership. but now it seems militias are the only hope on the front lines. how does that bode for iraq's future? >> iraq is in fact a shiite majority country. the sunnis are in the minority. so it shouldn't be a surprise that iran has interest in helping their shiite brothers in iraq. in terms of going forward, i think we will see increased and sustained iranian support to the shiite militias. about two-thirds of the forces fighting isis there in the tikrit are them. >> what about u.s. forces fighting isis? how long will the u.s. be

involved in that endeavor? >> i think this is a multi-year endeavor and the u.s. involvement there -- one thing to remember we have almost 3,000 u.s. military members in iraq training advising assisting iraqi forces. this is something that secretary of state kerry has said is a multi-year effort against isis. tikrit in particular should -- if all works well -- fall back into iraqi control in the near future and then onward to other parts of the country. >> here's where it becomes complicated for a lot of people because while the u.s. is effectively allied with iran in iraq it is a much different story just 1,000 miles or so away in yemen. is it short-sided to be fighting at once with and against iran not to mention the nuclear negotiations under way in switzerland? >> this is a tremendously complicated situation. you're exactly right. we are for all intents and purposes fighting alongside iranians and iran-supported shia

militias in iraq whereas we are helping the saudi-led coalition in yemen conduct their proxy war against shiite and iranian-supported shiites there. so it's a very very difficult situation. add onto that -- layer onto that the sensitive nuclear negotiations and this is a very very messy situation. >> to pick up on yemen, the saudis are talking about 150,000 ground troops there in yemen. they have a long history of fighting with yemen. but to send troops across any border, that would be unprecedented for them. what does that tell you? >> it would be. there is actually -- from what i understand, an arab league summit occurring to talk about an arab force -- multinational, specifically focused on the issue in yemen. again, it is being characterized as a proxy battleground. who's on the saudi side? at least ten countries. and as was reported earlier, the u.s. is being asked to help plan

and provide some intelligence and some surveillance support. so this is a very, very messy situation. >> stephanie, we show. we'll see you then. >> thank you. it is an honor for tim cook many doubted he could achieve nap is next. also a new book about cook's predecessor steve jobs. but how is this one different than the one that came out just after his death? the pm pain reliever. that dares to work all the way until... [birds chirping] the am. new aleve pm. it's the first to combine a safe sleep aid plus the 12 hour strength of aleve. for pain relief that can last all the way until morning. new aleve pm, for a better am. ♪ the new, twenty-fifteen ford focus believes in "more." more to see. more to feel.

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fortune magazine has declared tim cook the world's greatest leader. he became leader of apple just weeks before steve jobs died in 2011. he has increased profits to record levels. many observers doubted he could fill steve jobs' shoes. in a new book "becoming steve jobs," it finds he had developed into a mature visionary leader. and the executive editor of fast company and the coauthor of "becoming steve jobs" is with us. i want to thank you for being

here. talk about steve jobs' management style. it's described that of a hot head, but in your view there was a remarkable change. >> he was a hot head in his youth in his 20s. but he learned how to be a patient manager. he learned how to martial a group of really talented executives. and he learned all of this while he was away from apple during the 12 years when he wasn't there. and he learned it from pixar and he learned it from his own failures at next. >> what are the biggest misconceptions about him? that image that stays with him or are there others? >> i think the image of him as a hot head exclusively is not true. >> it's only partial. >> if you talk to his close friends, you know, he was as human and humane and caring as

you or i might hope to be with our friends and family. that's part of it. i think people also have this misconception he was this genius who just dreamed up products out of the thin air. but what he really was was an improsario. he had the most amazing peripheral vision. great ceos can see what's coming on the outside. he understood it. that's why they were so successful. that's why he could do so well with phones. he just -- he was able to bring all these different ideas together. >> yeah. so when he was ousted at apple and spent that decade away you talked about how he helped develop his management style. on a personal note was he shocked by this and how did this all influence him? >> oh yeah. he was totally shocked by it. there were so many signs that he was going to be ousted but

he -- >> did he not see them or not want to believe them? >> i don't think he believed it was possible. he had a very high opinion of himself at that point. and he had some truly unrealistic expectations. he also was a terrible corporate player at that point. and john scully totally outplayed him. >> how do you think he will ultimate when all is said and done ten years from now and beyond, how will he be remembered? >> i think he'll be remembered as one of the three people responsible for the personal computing revolution. and i think he will also be remembered as the man who introduced the importance of design to corporate america. and who elevated what consumers expect in terms of quality. >> okay. rick tetzelli you'll have to

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