these two women worked for al gore. he is the cofounder of current tv and they were reporters there along the china/north korea border. he was, obviously, overwhelmed as well. >> finally, any sense what is next for the two women for euna lee and laura ling? >> yeah. only in the sense that they say they're going to have some quiet time with their family, that they are going to retreat, spend some time getting reacquainted and really just basking in the emotions of their return. >> jay gray in burbank, thank you so much for joining me. >> you bet. >>> i have a guest co-host every morning and this morning karen finney is joining me. former press secretary for hillary clinton. good to see you. >> good to be with you. >> a lot of big news including this north korea story. i want to play for you andrea mitchell who is in africa with secretary of state hillary clinton. listen to a conversation they had and then i want to get your thoughts on it right after this sound bite. >> sure. >> i want to be sure people don't confuse wha

there, again, is former vice president al gore. and i believe, with him, is the co-founder of current tv, joel hyatt. and that is mrs. ling. doug and mary ling, the parents of laura ling. >> and they may still have medical testing to undergo. there's former president bill clinton, now. >> john podesta, of course, former clinton chief of staff. headed the obama transition team. currently running the center for american progress, who also traveled. >> wonderful how he let euna lee and laura ling go first and have the moment with their families before he disembarked. >> he also took with him david stroud, who is a retired u.s. diplomat. served at the korea desk at the state department, formally. and justin cooper, who has worked on his autobiography, and worked for the clinton foundation. and as we said earlier, the brother of a long-time clinton aide, who is a physician, an emergency physician, roger band. jake tapper? >> reporter: yes, diane. >> do you have a statement from former president clinton? >> reporter: that's right. bill c

and the al gore connection. right now they're getting ready to leave north korea for a long-awaited reunion with their family. the two american journalists are now said to be safe and with former president clinton, who went to the communist country to try to win their release. there have been reports that plane has already taken off, but a source tells fox news the jet is still on the ground and expected to leave within the next 90 minutes or so it was just about four hours ago that north korea's official news agency reported the leader, kim jong il, granted a full parred to the reporters, euna lee and laura ling. their families released a statement that thanked the obama administration, then continues, "we especially want to thank president bill clinton for taking on such an arduous mission and vice president al gore for his tireless efforts to bring laura and ue that home. and we are counting the seconds to hold laura and unithat in our arms." we still don't know what they may have gotten in exchange for the r

we'd also like to thank president obama, secretary of state hillary clinton, vice president al gore, who we also call al [ laughter ] the swedish embassy matt foyer, curt taung and the people of the state department who worked so hard to win the release of their fellow americans. steve bing and his crew and and drew liverous and the dow company and i know i'm forgetting a bunch of instrumental people right now but forgive me if i'm a little incoherent. to our loved ones, friends, colleagues, and to the complete strangers with the kindness of hearts who showed us so much love and sent us so many positive thoughts and energy we thank you. we could feel your love all the way in north korea. it is what kept us going in the darkest of hours. it is what sustained our faith that we would come home. the past 140 days has been the most difficult, heart wrenching time of our lives. we have very grateful that we were granted amnesty by the government of north korea and we are happy to be home and we are so anxious right now to be able to spend some quiet, private time getting reacquainted with o

al gore was suggested. the north koreans did not want al gore.rdson himself, who has negotiated the release of people in the '90s. that was rejected, as well. they wanted bill clinton. that's who they got. >> we said earlier, around the table for that session, the 1 hour and 15 m

he was the envoy not al gore, not anyone else discussed.nce that message was conveyed, the weekend july 27th they sat down, hillary and bill clinton, talked about it, talked about whether it could be clearly defined. president obama interestingly did not talk to bill clinton beforehand. they wanted to keep this on a separate track. he brought with him a doctor, podesta. he is an attorney, also a former chief of staff at the white house and it was john podesta who went and went to the courtroom and did the legal pleadings necessary to make sure they got this pardon. there actually had to be a courtroom exercise and that was podesta's role as attorney in the case. the doctor was there because euna lee has had some medical issues and offered to check them out. parenthetically i can imagine taking a close look at kim jong-il. bill clinton spent 3:15 with the reclusive leader. joe? >> willie geist? >> andrea, i wanted to ask you about those 3:15. >> reporter: hey, willie. >> i'm sure the cia will be very interested to debrief former president bi

apparently, they did not want al gore to go over there, the north koreans.when al gore approached president clinton and said, please, go to north korea, on this mission. the administrati was involved in some ways. the national security adviser, jim jones, spoke to president clinton. he also had a meeting about what the current situation in north korea was. and that's how this mission began. >> all right, martha. our thanks to you. we're going to take a pause for a second. we want to bring in the rest of the country for the events about to happen on this tarmac. a break. we'll return with a special report. >>> and i'm diane sawyer, with robin roberts. and we are bringing in the entire country because that is the airplane landing after a 5,935-mile trip from pyongyang, north korea, to the united states. 140 days in captivity, for laura ling, age 32. euna lee, age 36. returning with former president bill clinton. >> they were arrested march 17th, near the north korean border while reporting a story on human trafficking. and in june, they were sentenced to 12 ye

he also found al gore to let them know that he would be on his way back. we can only imagine the joyous reunion that will take place here today between these journalists, their families, their parents, and their husbands after being gone for so long. putting an end to this very frightening ordeal. for a while they had a very uncertain future. megyn: as we watch the video tape of the women boarding the airplane in north korea, on their way home -- this is file tape in the top left-hand side of your screen, let me ask you -- first, we are getting this reaction from the white house, saying that they are enormously pleased by the return of these two journalists. for those who have not been following, can you update us on who these two young women are and what they were doing in north korea in the first place? >> these are two journalists from current tv, a fairly new network. it is co owned by vice president al gore. euna lee is a producer, laura ling is a reporter. they were working together on some kind of documentary in the area. we do not have specific det

: the obama administration sprang into action along with the women's employer, current tv founder al gore. the swedish ambassador who represents the u.s. in pyongyang took messages and medicine to the prisoners. u.s. diplomats met with north korea's ambassador to the u.n. gore and the state department called the families every day. hillary clinton met with them on may 11th. north korea didn't make it easy. a missile test in april. a nuclear test in may. more missiles fired on july 4th. >> i strongly condemn their reckless actions. >> reporter: then on june 8, euna lee and laura ling were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor. but a glimmer of hope. they remained in a guest house still able to call their families. the u.s. proposed sending an envoy, most likely al gore. others on the list, new mexico governor, bill richardson, and senator john kerry. in july the women called their families and said the north koreans wanted bill clinton. he wasn't even on the white house list. some said for good reasons. after some of his comments about candidate obama during the 2008 campaign. >> give me a b

but thank you for coming out. >> and that was vice president al gore, former vice president al gore. give these two families a chance to breathe. listening to lawyer ra link, what a frightening experience by them to be told by the government we're going to take you to the labor camp and then they lead them somewhere else, open the door, and there is president bill clinton. or at that moment she realized that things were going to be much better. >> it was very interesting just now not to hear former president clinton speak. he came back, there was obviously a lot of imagery we saw of the president, former president being greeted and welcomed and cheered as he came down the steps of the plane but he chose not to speak. >> he'll be debriefed, i think, clearly about a lot of things. >> and i love what the vice president said about hannah's been a good girl while you've been gone. what an emotional experience for these families. we're going to have complete coverage throughout the day on msnbc and msnbc.com. and coming up for most of you, there is more of "today." for those of you on the

why do you suppose it was bill clinton and in the al gore? dent gore has worked with the white house, the state department, a range of people who offered to help with the best intentions. this is like a symphony, everybody trying to ensure that these two women were released. i think the vice president, i'm not speaking for him, but i'm sure elated tonight to know the two young women will be coming home to their families. >> matter who it was, whether al gore had that primary role or played a background role? >> absolutely not. not who he is and not what this is about. this is about getting these two women back home safely to their family and clearly, former president clinton played a role in making this happen a win win for the country and the young women but for president obama, who i think really is pushing, you know, this whole effort to ensure the safety of americans by using a range of options, using former presidents and who knows what else. >> have you spoken with al gore today? >> no i have not, but i did applaud the fact that these tw

after the return trip, al gore saluted the president. >> we want to thank president bill clinton forertaking this mission and performing it so skillfully. >> the white house says the trip was a quote unquote solely private mission. so described by white house press secretary robert gibbs. but ex-president clinton says the white house asked him to iothe mission. "i happy that r happafthat aft with their love. es their families, vice pridgoenndt ae rethe itwh house asked that itundertake this humanitarian mission, i agreed." and this makes it more official. national security advisor james jones from his office in the west wing asked former president clinton to north kore question. why was bill clinton chosen for this mission and did the white house authorize it in advance? pat bu cannen? >> bill clinton was chosen because kim ill jock demanded bill clinton come to pyongyang and the white house authorized it to get those people back. bubba is back, john. he gets a great success. it's wonderful that it's home but the real winner is kim jong- il. he demanded who it come over after firing

at that point, former vice president al gore reached out to clinton to take his temperature, would he be willing. of course, his natural first question is this going to be a successful mission? there was a thorough vetting of this, what the officials called due diligence. they really wanted to make sure that the north koreans were serious and they pursued that through a variety of channels, some of which they wouldn't reveal to us and quite fascinating right there but i think they used the word direct, there is some communication going on with the north koreans. >> that is through the u.n. ambassador, i'm told, sway direct -- direct channel with the north korean u.n. ambassador in new york. the other point, fascinating that bill clinton does something to help the obama administration. we talk about team of rivals, a savannah. normally we think of hillary clinton and barack obama because they ran against each other but in fact, there was really a great deal more attention during the campaign and took a longer time to heal between barack obama and bill clinton. >>> it took a longer time

the two women work for al gore's current tv network. we have not heard much from former president bill clinton since his wife became secretary of state, but look what people off this week. he delights is network of business and political contacts -- he utilized his network of political and business contacts and flew to north korea to freeze captor journalists. the obama administration wanted to send al gore, but apparently kim jong il wanted bubba. >> look, i commend the president, but it was not his doing grid stuff like this is done completely in advance. it was the white house negotiating through i think it was the swedes' as the intermediary, and it was that kim jong il wanted to have the highest ranking american outside the administration in a photo op to show that he is not a vegetable, and that he is actually active. if you are in a country like that, in which all powers are in one man and they worry about the stroke you have, showing up with president clinton and speaking and having a dinner with them is extremely important. he

. >> reporter: al gore told the white house the north koreans wanted clinton. president obama gave the go-ahead. >> the white house reached out as they said to my husband to ask him if he would be willing to do that. >> reporter: now a team of rivals one better, president obama and two clintons. the final step if bill clinton were to go would it be a done deal? the north koreans messaged yes. the wheels were in motion. and those wheels were pretty fancy. a private 737 owned by clinton friend and hollywood producer, and former clinton chief of staff, john podesta went along to file the paperwork of the pardon in a north korean court.

bill clinton will be speaking and we understand that al gore will be speaking. there are a lot of winners here, among them the family. the families are big winners here, getting their family members back. bill clinton is a big winner here because he's now seen a heroic -- in heroic way after really sort of falling out of the limelight for some time. but the question i think which we're continuing to bring up is will the united states, in its relationship with north korea, be a winner? is there a possibility that there is an improvement here that may actually increase the dialogue and decrease the possibility of a nuclear armed north korea? >> does this open the door? now we know there are two families that are greatly relieved to have their loved ones back on american soil. we're going to back to andrea mitchell in nairobi for more on this. andrea? >> you know, hillary clinton kept trying to say today in our interview is that this is a private, humanitarian mission by her husband, that bill was really emotional, she said

and michael was the senior top aide in fact to former vice president al gore. this is one of those strange moments. it's not what bill clinton did. he just did this ministerial role. he went over there but all his prestige from an accumulation of 40 years in public life was with thoson north koreans wanted. they wanted class, they got it. >> right. bill clinton remains a global rock star. he's one of the most visible people in the world, one of the most popular people in the world, beloved in countries around the world and the north koreans. >> they wanted to be around this guy, didn't they? >> they wanted something that somebody of that stature accrues to a rogue nation like north korea. and you know, i think the president clinton was very careful not to do anything. you didn't even see him smiling in the official pictures. >> talk about his conduct in a minute. >> he was fearful of not being used and yet not getting what he wanted. >> i thought he was like a p.o.w. with his fingers crossed. here's what that freed journalist laura ling said this morning about

. >> president obama think bill clinton and former vice president al gore. >> all american should be grateful to both former president clinton and vice president al gore for their extraordinary work. >> we have always considered that a totally separate issue. >> the secretary of state's -- the state department insisted that the high-profile visit does not set a precedent for dealing with difficult regimes. >> the state department says the north koreans made it clear that former president clinton was the one person that could get them out and president obama asked to go, but officials maintain this was a private humanitarian mission. >> there is continuing coverage of the freed journalists on our website. there you can see more of the video of them returning to the u.s. and hear their emotional comments. >> that was really nice to watch live this morning after they got off of the plane. still to come, no one wants to end their state at the beach at a hospital. >> the impact of injuries leaves the ravens looking for more than just an offensive tackle. >> there are some showers on hd do

it was clear from my reporting that she was suggesting other people to go, including al gore.ut they didn't want -- they didn't want other people and then -- then it was jones who spoke directly with president clinton. >> did you guys notice -- did you notice the pictures of gore and clinton together? it was almost like a bear hug, the two of them. they seemed really genuine moment of closeness, these two, after some hard times between them. president clinton didn't deliver the election to gore but he delivered these journalists, these two seeing kind of a new relationship between the two of them. >> hard to know. >> i think it's too early to tell, but i think it's important to understand, that these two journalists, obviously, worked for al gore. he's been trying very hard to get this done. and now here bill clinton goes and spends a couple days going to get them back, and i think he was deeply grateful for that. i was once in a situation with u.s. news where we had a journalist seized in moscow. and when you have one of your own seized, you do everything you can to get back,

when the time was right, north korea was willing to make a deal, they didn't want al gore. they wanted one person. the former president of the united states, and that certainly helped to build up the credibility in some quarters of what kim jong-il has done as he's managed to become the center of attention, at least for 24 hours. dylan? >> savannah guthrie, also here. savannah, andrea makes an incredibly pointed, or makes a very clear, i should say, that the obama administration is ready to consider a different dialogue than the bush administration started some years ago. the north koreans, obviously, want the world's attention. you know what? i don't even have to ask. the president's going to tell us himself. here he comes. again -- this, we presume will be commentary, contessa, obviously on the incredible emotion of the return of these women. >> and it's unusual for the president to make a statement before boarding marine one. usually it's a photo op. before he heads off to elkhart, indiana. he'll stop and make a brief statement. let's listen to the president. >> good mor

clinton and his former vice president al gore were back together again. al gore owns current tv, the network that employees the two reporters. he was there waiting to hug mr. clinton as they touched down. the women spent time in the hangar reuniting with families who they haven't seen since they were captured five months ago. lick then stepped to the microfoen and talked about when she first saw president clinton in north korea monday night. >> we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end. and now, we stand here home and free to our loved ones, friends, colleagues, and to the complete strangers with the kindness of hearts who showed us so much love, we could feel your love all the way in north korea. it is what kept us going in the darkest of hours. it is what sustained our faith that we would come home. >> shortly after the women returned, president obama called former president clinton to thank him for going to north korea. the president praised both clinton and gore for their work. >> we are obviously ext

you have al gore who is a member of ale's board who serves as advisor to schmidt. >> what are does he do? >> also as a way to eliminate the conflict of interest. google try to be a microsoft and apple as far as digital media is there. >> war what does al gore do? i was joking, but what does he advise eric schmidt on? >> i'm sorry. i was going to say quickly that al gore advices schmidt on environmental issues and service as the compensation chairman with apple. he is intimately involved in the highest oechelons. >> i know he invented the internet and everything. >> if you look at apple over last year, they made strides environmental in terms of energy consumption and what they electric like when they biodegrade. al gore has shown input there. >> what would you do with any of these names right now? would you go in in the case of a tech rally or not? >> what this speaks to is the fact that both apple and google are going to be defining what the market and other markets look like over the next to 10 years.s. for a long-term player, these are still as good of time names. >> all right. tha

we expect that vice president al gore will make a few comments.plane actually left north korea before they even made a comment about the release of these two journalists, and now we're going to be hearing from al gore, and then they'll be going just a few miles from here. laura ling's mom is planning a get-together. a more formal family reunion in private for them. lisa ling has said we don't really have any plans for them. remember, they're going to need to decompress, they have been kept away from what's been going on in the west for such a very long time. they're both married, and euna lee has a 4-year-old little girl, hannah. of course she's been asking where her momma is. and her dad has been telling her that she's at work. so, you can only imagine what an extraordinarily happy reunion it's going to be when they finally get to see their families. meredith? >> yeah, i'm sure there are going to be a lot of tears all the way around. laura ling actually was being held during her fifth wedding anniversary. she missed that, something that i'm sure

there is al gore.hey were reporting for his -- well, a tv network, current tv, in which he is involved, so he, too, reportedly made a plea to president bill clinton to become part of this idea to try to win their release, and it worked. so the families, according to an administration source, went to former president bill clinton, as did supposedly, al gore to make this plea to try to win their release, and it worked. there is lisa ling, the sister of laura ling, and she, too, is a reporter. she does some reporting for the cnn network as well as national geographic, if i'm remembering correctly here, so the families are just jumping out of their skin because this cannot happen fast enough. they have had to wait for so long, and you know what? yeah. let's watch here. i don't want you to miss anything. you will not miss anything. there are so many different cameras here and dignitaries. i'm going to ask our producers what they want to do because this could take a couple minutes here. let's keep our pictur

bill clinton, al gore. not the closest of friends since 2000, but they were brought together this way. hillary clinton, kim jong il. i mean, they've been saying some very unkind things to each other. they're brought together. barack obama, bill clinton. again, always that constant friction. i know because you live in new york and bill clinton has a lot of friends in new york, you're constantly hearing people saying "why don't they use bill more? why don't they..." you hear it everywhere you go. it's just... all of bill clinton's friends "it's just not right. obama's not using bill clinton! he could save the world!" >> rose: (laughs) do >> do you not hear that >> >> of course you do. >> rose: this is the home run answer to that. the home run answer. >> and, again, this is what bill clinton is so good at. >> rose: what's that? >> well, he... he... on the world stage. >> rose: admired and therefore is... >> this is a guy who's beloved. >> rose: and people like to be around him. >> we could use him. i said in t

they were working for al gore. and they were there for a several months that they were arrested and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegally entering the country. korea along with al gore. >> he had some signal from the north koreans in advance that the trip would be successful. >> they met with the leader in north korea. there are tensions over the country's nuclear program. this could provide an opening to improve conditions. >> the future of our relationships with the north korea are up to them. >> the talks were ride whinging an exhaustive. it did not include anything beyond the release of the women. this was strictly a private humanitarian mission. wbal tv 11 news. >> let's get a check under morning commute dealing with problems along eastbound i 70. an accident still cling on the ramp. police vehicles are they're trying to clear the accident. it may be a little while. but for delays in developing their. let's check on what else is going on. still dealing with the water main break closures near falls

so grateful. >> larry: i said president al gore, of course president al gore. well, deepak chop ra are here next. one knows a lot about north korea. another knows the ling family. insights about the political and personal cost of what's happened right after this. itched to a coe multivitamin with more. only one a day women's 50+ advantage... has gingko for memory and concentration... plus support for bone and breast health. just what i need. one a day women's. ♪ ♪ which one's me - for a cool convertible or an suv? ♪ ♪ too bad i didn't know my credit was whack ♪ ♪ 'cause now i'm driving off the lot in a used sub-compact. ♪ ♪ f-r-e-e, that spells free credit report dot com, baby. ♪ ♪ saw their ads on my tv ♪ thought about going but was too lazy ♪ ♪ now instead of looking fly and rollin' phat ♪ ♪ my legs are sticking to the vinyl ♪ ♪ and my posse's getting laughed at. ♪ ♪ f-r-e-e, that spells free- credit report dot com, baby. ♪ >> larry: two distinguished guests, franklin graham is in boone, north carolina, president of the relief organization samaritans purse. h

lee and ling were arrested along the north korea/china border back in march while working for al gore's current tv. they were sentenced in june to 12 years of hard labor, a fate the families are relieved has been avoided. >> i have to remind every minute i have to be strong for her. that's what keeps me going, for this day. waiting for this day that's coming. yeah. i'm so glad it's here. >> reporter: and it's clear the reporters' relatives and friends aren't the only ones. euna lee and laura ling are also said to be extremely excited to be returning home. the hangar here at the airport right now is closed. but it is expected to be open. we should be allowed to go in. former vice president al gore, also founder of current tv, is also expected to be here to greet the women. reporting live from burbank, elizabeth sanchez, cbs news. >> elizabeth, thank you. >>> mahmoud ahmadinejad was sworn in for a second time as president of iran this morning. after taking the oath of office, he denounced foreign interference in iranian asdparz urged unity among the iranian people. the ceremony was boycot

. >> the was al gore who sought mr. clinton's help. he's the cofounder of current tv where laura ling and euna lee worked when they were detained last march. hillary clinton also has been heavily involved in trying to secure the young womens' release. including issuing an apology to the north koreans. >> the young women themselves have apparentladmitted that they probably did trespass, so they are deeply regretful, and we're very sorry this happened. >> since president obama took office, the north koreans have tested a nuclear weapon, long range misling, and a fleury of short and long range rockets. critics say the clinton visit is rewarding bad behavior. >> we have made this tremendous concessi concession. by sending a pirn of this high profile could turn out to be a mistake. >> for the families of laura ling and euna lee, it is a day of joy. in a statement, they said, we are counting the seconds to hold laura and unieuna in our arms. when they're home, all eyes will be back on north korea to see if the clinton visit gets them back to

sustained our faith that we would come home. >> lee and ling are employed by former vice president al gore media company current tv and gore thanked both the current and former president clinton and obama for bring them home. >>> president obama watched the joyous reunion and he is thrilled that the women are home, safe and sound. >> i want to just make a brief comment about the fact that the two young journalists euna lee and laura ling are safely back with their families. we are, obviously, extraordinarily relieved. i had an opportunity to speak with the families yesterday. once we knew that they were on the plane, the reunion that we've all seen on television i think is a source of happiness, not only for the families, but for the entire country. >> what do you think will come from this? opening the doors to better relations with north korea? what do you think? what is the result of this? call us toll free, 877-835-5456. e-mail at cnn.com/hln or just text views plus your comments and name to hlntv. we'll air your responses throughout the day standard text rates apply. >>> neighbors who

there you see al gore, former vice president. we still haven't seen president clinton exit the plane yet. >> i'm sure he's hanging back, just wanting the family to have a moment. not a dry eye in the house. here, too. wow. >> john, it was interesting to watch aian playton, laura's husband, approach the plane. it was probably hard for you to see this, but he just kept on wringing his hands and he led the group up to the plane and when his wife of 12 years got off, big hugs, kisses, he has said a while ago that they had been married for 12 years. it was the first time that they had been apart for such a long time. they just recently bought a home together and they had ordered pillows. he said the pillows came and that's when he felt very lonely and realized how much he missed his wife. and now they're re-united. >> the thing is -- we spoke with former vice president gore about their detention. he was optimistic he would be able to get them out, that it was just a matter of time. but when you're dealing with north korea, you just ne

2000 election. >> it was interesting that their release got al gore and bill clinton hugging. but the television moment. time for another break but first you come across a story that you think should media bias, e-mail us newsletter foxnews.com. we'll be back right after this. >> pictures releases their summer blockbuster g.i. joe and controlling the media's message about the film. >> a birthday the white house makes headlines in late heard details next on "news watch." %% check out our new champagne indulgence shade collection at naturalinstincts.com. >> jon: the military andy nfl betting those in the ranks amusing social sites like poor and facebook over cyber security concerns. the marines had already banned the use of social media and military networks and order on tuesday said the use of sites like twitter and facebook could be used to spread malicious content. that's true as well for the nfl. they don't want players to be from the sidelines of the game the locker room the press box buried in the stands. teams don't want their training camp secrets becoming fodder for th

clinton as well as to former vice president al gore. >> i want to thank president bill clinton. i had a chance to talk to him for the extraordinary humanitarian effort that resulted in the release of the two journalists. i want to thank vice president al gore who worked tirelessly in order to chief a positive outcome. >> reporter: her sister journalist lisa lee says the family is grateful for their release. >> we're all so relieved. it's been difficult -- [ ininaudible ] >> reporter: the journalists were separated nearly their five months in north korea and fed bad food. laura ling says she's egg ear to taste fresh food because she had been fed rice with rocks in it. >> here at home joy and relief in the korean community on the safe return of those two women. local community leaders say they hope this will open the door to better relations with the korean government and its leader. but now with the safe return of the journalists, there's hope for resumed talks with the north. >> i hope that this isn't -- that this may contribute to some extent to relieve the tension between nort

the two women wk for al gore's current tv neork. we havnot hear mh from bill clinton since his wife became cretary of state. but look what he pulled f this week. utized his network of siness and pitical interests and food in both. to secure the release of these captured -- and flew to noh korea to securehe release of his capture jonalists. wh youmake of it, charles? >> lk, i commend the president, t it is not his doing. stuff like this isired complete in advance. was the white hou negotiating thugh i think it was that the swedes, and was that kim jong il wanted to have the highesraing american outse of the administratn in a oto opo show thate is not a vegetable, and tha he is actuallycted. if you are in a cntry like that, in whh all power is wit one man d they worry about the stroke you ha, and they worry if you are all the, showing up with president clint and speakingnd having a dinner with him is extremely importan he wanted it, he got it, and it cost him two hosges. >> john mccain says is aig propaganda success for the north kore

i want to thank vi president al gore who worked tirelessly order to achiev a positive outcome. >> re: joining me now is ens revere, president ofhe new york-based career society. was among the former u.s. officials involved in the back channel talks that paved the way for the journasts' release. joining me from whington, martha rdatz, senior feign affairs corrpondent at abc ne. i am pleased to haveoth of them. let me first go to martha. the white house, what are they sang so far, mar that ar >> well, the ite house is still ying to distance itself with any official kin of trip. they're stilsaying it was a ivate visit, thes after humanitarian mison. but a senior official fm the white houseutlined things that there's clearly heavy white house involvementere, heavy state department involvement here no matter what they call it a lot of this was orchestrated with the help ofhe white house. >> rose: inwhat way did they help? >> wel, they certainly talked toresident clinton. they certainly reached out to esident clinton. the national secury advisor, jim jones,i concted presiden clinton aft al

momentos de mucha emociÓn junto al vicepresidente al gore. s familiares no estamos seguros de que pudieran ser liberadas. fueron arrestadas por cruzar ilegalmente a corea del norte desde china. tvúmiy@ estado reportando de un problema de trÁfico de mujeres.@ fueron snciado12 aÑos de trabajos forzados en el mes de junio. ya hemos visto cÓmo ellas llegaron a su tierra de regreso en ese vuelo que las trajo h@h@tvúmiÑñxkph@h@tvúmi escuchar la reacciÓn del mandatario aunque adelantamos que la casa blanca dijo que se sienten sumamente complacidos de lo que ha ocurrido y de v estas imÁgenes de la liberaciÓn de la llegada a estados unidos que estas dos periodistas. escuchemos a barack obama. dice que va a hacer un comentario breve sobre estas dos periodistas que estÁn h@tvú que hemos visto, y quiere agradecer al ex vicepresidente al gore por todos sus esfuerzos para lograr un resultado positivo en la liberaciÓn de escasos periodistas estadounidenses. que la casa blanca estÁ extraordinariamente compda, muy contenta. dice el presidente obama por las

clinton's former vice president al gore, who the north koreans had rejected as an emissary, reaches out to clinton. uly 24th, national security he iser jim jones outlines the ission to clinton, making it pick uit will be strictly to pick up the journa journalists, not negotiations on nuclear issues. nine ces days later, after determining through a variety of sources that the mission will end in success, bill clinton leaves the u.s. or north korea, and within hours of his arrival, the news, g ending. martha raddatz, abc news, s shington. >>> and jake tapper is joining us from the white house this morning. in part because t jake, president clinton in a written statement said he went in part because the white house mission.m to. those the white house said, on the other hand, this was strictly a asked amission. those statements seem at odds. >> they do, indeed. it. he and i asked a senior administration official about it. president clinton he said they assumed that what fesident clinton meant he coordinated the trip with the white house and it was okay for him to go. this of course gets at

the women were captured on assignment for former vice president al gore's current t.v. >> but i want you all to know, your families have been unbelievable. >> we could feel your love all the way in north korea. it is what kept us going in the darkest of hours. >> reporter: for euna lee, laura ling, and their families, this must surely be their brightest day. bill whitaker, cbs news, burbank >> couric: the clinton mission to north korea may have come as a surprise, but the planning had been going on for weeks. the arrests of the two journalists on march 17 set off a flurry of back-channel diplomacy. the urgency only grew greater on june 8 when ling and lee were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor in a north korean prison. after months of requests by intermediaries, the north koreans allowed the two women to call their families. it was these phone calls that started a delicate negotiation that led to their freedom. >> they did not want this issue to start to blend into the broader geopolitical issues that we have with north korea. >> couric: the north koreans told the prisoners they co

al gore we believe is there. >> why is this such a big production? >> i don't know why they are not -- >> i don't get this. anyway -- >> well, we'll no doubt find out more. >> i know after a long flight i like to hang around on the plane. >> exactly. so we'll update you as we get more and if there are any comments from the likes of either al gore, the journalists themselves or bill clinton. now let's get to david faber. david? >> here i am. thanks, erin. we have talked a great deal about the dearth of large or even small merger and acquisition deals, but we have seen over the last couple days is developments on existing stories. yesterday, of course, pepsi completed or at least -- they haven't completed the deal, but announcing the deal, pepsi bottling group and pepsi america. and another update on the fertilizer issue. we're talking about cf, that increased its offer to terra. agrium has been try to go guy cf. terra has said no to cf. cf has succeedsfully said no to agriium for some time. nonetheless, cf seems to be emboldened and perhaps thinks it'